A dear friend recently sent me a link to an article on how to deal with the potential loneliness and stress caused by this coronavirus outbreak. It was such a good reminder to maintain healthy practices, like yoga and mediation, reading and journaling, crafting/creating/cooking, staying in touch with loved ones via phone/video chats, and taking regular news breaks. I would add getting outside for a walk in the fresh air when possible. My husband and I geared up our dogs for the holiday and created our own St. Patrick’s Day parade around the neighborhood. I was so glad we got a little Vitamin D and even more grateful to see so many signs of Spring: daffodils, crocus, buds on trees, not to mention an abundance of clover in our yard (so pretty for a “vile weed!”), woodpeckers hammering out a steady beat and, perhaps best of all: songbirds. Just listening as you walk can be a healing practice in itself. When you can’t get out and listen to songbirds, try listening within and around you for the sound of “Om.”
2020 has been a wild ride thus far so hang in there! Seeing Spring flora burst forth from the seemingly dead land today brought to mind Samuel Barber’s “Twelfth Night,” which I sang decades ago with my college choir but still holds such power for me. Barber composed music for the poem, by Laurie Lee, with what Timothy Judd calls “close, tense harmony.” Sound familiar right about now? You can hear the tension, even hopelessness in “and the year seems defeated,” and the poet’s doubt that the green grass could ever again “exhale its humming breath…from this dark lung of winter.” But just when it seems all hope is lost, we are reminded that “beneath the hand, the earth already warms and glows.”
Just as the cold, hard earth of late winter can soften into the warmth of Spring, we can find a similar source of warmth and light within ourselves. I invite you to connect with that inner glow through your yoga practice!
May every breath you take today (and every day) remind you to invite the light! Intentionally choose practices that light you up from within, that bring you a little warmth, and that help brighten the world around you. Namaste