The surprising way to practice yoga during a thunderstorm
I watched silently as the rose pink moon glided peacefully across the sky, painting an arc above the horizon. Across her face the winds blew leftover clouds from that evening’s thunderstorm.
Before that storm, the lights flickered and the numbers on the clock went blank, resisting the wind’s force until finally the power went out.
An old adage echoed faintly from my memory, “never let a good crisis go to waste.”
I’d hardly call a power outage a “crisis”, but it is a change of plans, and with change comes opportunity.
When the influence of the outer world dims, the light from the inner world can radiate more brightly.
The eight limbed path of yoga teaches us about pratyahara, control of the senses.
The untouchable, infinite cosmic force that lives in each of us can only experience this life through the nine gates of the senses. By controlling the senses, there is more space for that divine presence.
Alone I sat with my thoughts. The day’s espresso had yet to wear off and I was doing nothing. On purpose, doing nothing but watching the moon and listening to the steady metronome of the analog clock.
Peanut Butter was perched on her cat tower. Her pupils widened in the candlelight as the flames splashed a ballroom of dancing shadows across the walls and ceiling.
As I wrote this story, I wondered, “what comes next?”
A familiar voice answered, “there is only now”.
I closed my eyes, listened more deeply and recognized that forgotten voice as my own. Obeying my inner wisdom, the one we all have, I completed this story and put my phone away to enjoy the stillness.
