My Yoga is Sacred Art

Today the array of elements that have informed my practices for more than 30 years rush into the center of the circle. The bulls-eye that I have been looking and waiting for seems to be simply this: the unifying element is Art. Perhaps for those who know me, this is a no brainer. However in seeking the thesis, or point of view for the writing that I wish to publish, I have missed this synthesizing tone.

With a Master of Fine Arts in making dances (Choreography), I have shaped a strong multidisciplinary aesthetic. The richness in scope of the Vedic and Hindu sacred art is deliciously compelling for me. It is comprehensive across the disciplines and in its ancient depths, layered with multiplicities of symbols and images.

An epiphany this morning grants me the understanding of why my practice is moving mostly to chanting: it is the way I can go to and sustain being in my heart. I must have a place to go again and again as a reminder. The easiest part is that no matter where I am in my day in a breath I can begin an inner or outer expression! Amazingly this shifts me out of my mind every time. The resonance of Mayan Elder Don Wandering Wolf’s statement “the longest journey is from the head to the heart” (from the film Shift of the Ages) helps me see my immediate path. And the chanting is the Word, the sacred syllables and seeds of manifestation.

Reading and re-reading the Ramayana, also today I connect to the art form of storytelling and the way I am drawn completely into that realm with the detail and the lusciousness of pictures in my mind. Then weaving these threads into me, I find where the truth is in my experience. Right now the connection of mantras to the most powerful and deadly of weapons, the astras, demonstrates again the power of the WORD.

Writing is weaving and integrating into and around my tapas, both as practice and reflecting on practices. Bhakti Bhakta am I. My work is to create a Love Song. My dedication is to the Mother, to Gaia, Pacha Mama, Tierra Madre, Earth. The task at hand is to be a little less precious about what I post on this blog and to simply keep showing words in progress. Svaha!


SRI! Photo by Sarah Tomlinson www.yantratecture.com