This past week I was away in California. In my own way, it was a little rebirth. I was able to dip my feet and hands in the cold Pacific Ocean.
To dip myself in the ocean is always a sort of baptism to me. I get to touch the water of the Mother. I get to be cooled, calmed, and reassured of my place in all things. I am connected to a vastness that I cannot describe and at the same time I feel infinitely small. It’s not a sad thing. It’s a beautiful thing. A gratitude that I get to be here. And in this moment, all disappears.
Then my kids’ hug attacked me with love! Oh, the joy. Their faces were bright with desire to shed their shoes too; a mother’s opportunity to say “YES”! Live! Enjoy! Have fun!
As they start to draw in the sand my husband, Geoffrey, says “now”. I do it! Handstand of course! What else would I do on an open beach in California with my family and hobby photographer husband around?! Lol!
Rebirth is such an interesting idea to me.
Does rebirth mean that we start all over again with nothing?
What would you keep with you, if you knew you could bring things with you, in the next design of your Self? Notice I did not say die and be reborn. Mmmmm. Maybe you are in a time of metamorphosis?
What would you drop right now?
Anyway, just some journaling prompts for your weekly inner reflections. 😉
I loved how Janey Colbourne wrote it in her poem, ‘Alchemy’:
This is what they mean by turning lead into gold.
All the pain, the anger, doubt and fear.
All the suffering that weighed me down.
I look them in the eye.
My pen is my sword
and with it I pinned them to the page.
The page is my cauldron
where I stir until what comes out
is transformed, purified, reborn.
As I bring it forth
it’s light is so bright,
it is blinding.
I invited my friends and students to imagine that the mat was like her cauldron. And that with each movement we were stirring things, transforming all things.
And that is what we do on the yoga mat. We transform. We are transformed. And we can transform. We are purified and reborn.
Are very breaths is an embodiment of this reminder in each moment. Each moment is a moment of birth, and each moment is a moment of a type of death. A type of ending that opens to a new beginning. These moments are a gift.
Try moving your body with any of these following poems and haiku’s that I weaved within our practices.
Rebirth.
By: Alex Elle
There will be moments when
You bloom fully and then
Wilt, only to bloom again.
If we can learn anything from
Flowers it is that resilience is born
Even when we feel like we are
Dying.
Rebirth
By: Rupi Kaur
Wilt
Fall
Root
Rise
Bloom
This is the recipe of life
Said my mother
As she held me in her arms
As I wept
Think of those flowers you plant
In the garden each year
They will teach you
That people too
Must wilt
Fall
Root
Rise
In order to bloom
Rebirth
By: Derek Evers
A hyacinth sways
Flamboyant and exciting
Each bursting with soul
Rebirth (haiku #23)
By: Mysidian Bard
It isn’t too late
It’s never too late to start
All over again
May you begin whatever you feel is in your heart.
All my love,
Shawna
Breathe and Believe