No fireworks, cymbals, maracas, or
chest bumps. It turns out that the most fitting way to celebrate the completion of 40 days of practice is quietly, with 90 minutes of restorative yoga, closed with a om circle (with me and Heather at the center). It was a very sweet evening.
At 12:01, I'll be celebrating a little more boisterously with a nice glass of wine! Why not!
The beautiful moon in the sky tonight (last night I watched a shooting star blaze just below it), reminds me of a Zen story that Kat told at the end of class last Friday. It goes something like this:
"Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal.
Ryokan returned and caught him. 'You may have come a long way to visit me,' he told the prowler, 'and you shoud not return emptyhanded. Please take my clothes as a gift.'
The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.
Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. 'Poor fellow,' he mused, 'I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.'"
Let me end this blog with the Sanskrit chant we share at the close of each class:
"Om, lokasamasta sukhinobhavantu. Om shaantih, shaantih, shaantih," which translates to, "May all beings everywhere attain happiness and freedom. May there be peace, peace, and perfect peace."
(It turns out my words aren't always the most appropriate).
Namaste.