during yoga practice this morning
wet leaves on the ground from
sunrise rainfall
golden leaf showers falling
autumn all around
I looked up as I rose up from a forward bend
bow down to the Earth
rising up, catching my own eyes in my little mirror
surrounded by feathers
I caught myself
smiling into my own eyes in the mirror and
I caught myself
I caught someone and
something brief, glinting, rare, transient
I paused in my practice
to look more deeply into my own eyes
caught by my own gaze
these eyes
the skin, the face that surrounds the eyes
this body that moves, breathes, dances so fluidly
it feels pain, joy, flow, divinity
I feel pain, joy, flow, divinity
and it is all passing through
passing on by
movement constant
awareness fleeting
like so many geese flying south
the crows dancing on the thermals
responding to my caws by flying back
looping around in the sky
thus goes these eyes
these transient shining eyes
with skin, a face that changes moment to moment, and daily
I am getting older
my friends and family are all getting older
this life waits for no one
I tear my eyes away from my own eyes
reflected in the mirror
reflecting and flexing my spine
back downwards towards the Earth
inhaling my right leg back into a forward lunge
moving through my daily morning routine of sun salutations
every movement a prayer
of gratitude and deepest surrender
a wakening of the body
a tingling of the senses
a reconnection with the Universe
this movement
dynamic equilibrium
running downhill on the slippery orange autumn slope
running down into a small grove of young trees
but they are still older than I
they seem to hold me
as I run down into their embrace
laughing at the cold wind bumping against my chest
this week we studied the respiratory system
I feel my breath flowing through my body
I can see it interlacing with the breath of the rainbow-colored trees
at the bottom of the hill,
I fall to my knees
naturally curling myself into child position
a supine prayer position with my body curled into a turtle shape
my heart flat against the Earth
I breathe in and out
deeply inhaling the autumnal sweetness of the Earth
and exhaling the heat of my own breath into the damp leaves below me
and the rain falls down
in fat droplets that saturate my spine
and penetrate to my core
sending leaves raining down
like all the rainbows fluttering forth
to blanket me in natural beauty
raindrops bouncing off the rainbow leaves below me
the sound of a zillion small drums dancing
rhythmically pulsing
with the beating of my heart
heavy against the forest floor
fast from running
and faster from pure
delight
exhale, exhale, exhale
in dance class
Teacher Wu taught us how to fly
the secret is in the exhale
when you leap into the air
leap on an exhale
allow the wind to grab you
spin you around
in acupuncture class
Teacher Zeng taught us how to
send energy while setting our own energetic boundaries
setting needles into our patients
on the exhale
perineum held tight
root chakra, mula bandha in yoga
exhale, exhale, exhale
Igor guides me around the trees
punching me over and over,
in our systema martial arts practice
exhale with each punch
let it go
let it fall away
exhaling to fly
exhaling to establish boundaries
exhaling to relax into it all
do the autumn leaves also
exhale
as they
let go
from the trees that held them
so dear
and
f
a
l
l
to the
Earth?
