Dear Friends, Yogis and Yoginis,

At the International Yoga Fesatival, there were 400 people in attendance from 34 countries. It has been an inspiration, genuinely. Whatever trendy aspects snuck in that brought on my eye rolls were far outweighed by the depth of feeling here. Truly, Love has been the greatest teacher, whether it was the Iyengar teacher, the morning teacher for Nada Yoga, or the afternoon Yoga Nidra sessions. But it’s also been the eye contact with the festival workers, many of whom speak little to no English and are serving our food, cleaning our bathrooms, and scaring the monkeys away from ambushing our lunches.

Perhaps not having common language has cut down on the competition, gossip, and self-elevating, name dropping conversations that I experience in larger yoga gatherings in America? Though more likely, it’s the inner space I experience myself in at this time in my life. Rather than mental habits of judgment or comparison (remember the One and the Four?), I’ve been kept in good company here at the festival as Tolle, Rumi and Kabir waft through my thoughts.

“ …all the effort that was a movement into the future - that enormous depleting mental energy stream - becomes intense Presence in the now.
It is important to realize that surrender is also a very dynamic state. It is passive and active in one. The Tao te Ching often speaks of this paradox - the sage no longer does anything, and in that not doing anything, everything gets done. Presence is an intrinsic aspect of the surrendered state - that Presence also has seemingly contradictory qualities. One quality of Presence is enormous gentleness…embracing, vast gentleness. The other aspect is fierce, like a knife cutting through. The opposites merge in Presence.”

- Tolle

Come, come, whoever you are.
This caravan knows no despair.
Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving - Come.
Even though you’ve broken your vows, perhaps ten thousand times.
Come, come again.

- Rumi

The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell.
Don’t go back to sleep.
The door is wide and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
The people are crossing over the threshold
     where the two worlds meet.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.

-Kabir

In surrender, that enormous gentleness keeps returning us to the “path,” to our greatest center of vitality, wisdom and clarity. We come, come, and come back again. No matter how many times we wander, we come back through surrender. From there, we can cross the threshold where the two worlds meet, without a sense that we are straddling them. We see the two worlds come together. Love and Service. Prayer and Playfulness. The marketplace and the ashram.

Kabir says, “You must ask for what you really want.” In all light--heartedness, “I want a dark beer. Some dark chocolate. A nice glass of red wine and a steak. I would even enjoy a cup of coffee, with cream and sugar!”

Any takers?

Namaste,
Sarahjoy