The Power of Acceptance

Tags

acceptance, awareness, energy, manifestation, resistance

I am sitting in the downstairs window, bathing in brilliant morning light on a beautiful mid-February day. The two puppies are on the bench beside me, watching me write this as I pause to take a sip of my tea, wondering why their morning ‘cookies’ haven’t showed up yet. Earlier, I had been sitting in the upstairs window that overlooks the water, marveling at the thin sheet of ice still covering part of the channel that feeds the rest of the lake. I could hear the call of a goose through the closed window as he was probably laying claim to his nesting space for the season.

The conversation this morning, from the moment I woke up, started with the topic of ‘resistance’ and gradually shifted to ‘acceptance’ and then to ‘manifestation.’ When resistance came up, the engineer in was immediately drawn to the electrical analogy of voltage, current and power. As the conversation proceeded, I was reminded that it is the ‘night of Shiva’ – Shivaratri – a celebration of the power of manifestation of the One who is considered the greatest practitioner of Yoga in Hindu tradition. The belief is that Shiva’s ‘masculine’ power remains latent until and unless it is enabled and activated by Shakti, the divine ‘feminine.’ This activation happens on Shivaratri – the ‘ratri’ or night of Shiva. But I digress.

How is such activation of potential made possible in Nature? Using the electrical analogy, for a given amount t of voltage or unmanifesed potential, the lower the inner resistance, the greater the flow of current, or manifested potential. Manifestation ia inversely proportional to resistance. In spiritual terms, when the ‘Shiva’ within us lowers our resistance by accepting that the activation energy of Shakti is necessary to manifest our potential, the divine current flows naturally. Without acceptance, which is a lowering of resistance, our potential is bound and remains in a static, dormant, partly or fully frozen state, for all of time.

What may happen within us when we decrease our level of undue resistance? It is said that acceptance manifests divine current as life-force that literally moves us, accelerating us on our journey towards our ultimate goal in life.

Where does resistance come from? How does it accumulate over time? Could it be because we question, even protest so many things in our lives that we have very little control of? We question why, when and where we were born, and even of whom? We ask why we had a certain upbringing, traditions, schooling, set of friends and family, and so on. We ask why certain loved ones and relationships and friendships are no more. The resistance accumulates over life and times.

And yet, if we would turn resistance into acceptance, we could enable the current of life in this moment to flow and empower us. How do we turn towards acceptance? Perhaps we can begin with a decision to look at our past with a different perspective, with greater empathy, loving kindness, maybe even forgiveness and more. There are techniques and guides who can help us make this turn, lighten our past loads and help us create new pathways of increased acceptance in our hearts. We may need to seek, to ask, to be receptive.

Yes, all of this will take some work, but change and new flow is rarely if ever possible without some effort, is it? True, meaningful, sustainable and transformative acceptance requires all the power we can muster and the help and cooperation of all those who are able and willing to empower us. Don’t you think so? The result is that the more the current flows within us, the more power for good we shall manifest through our divine potential. With complete acceptance, Shiva and Shakti will become One within us, and a new cycle of creation will begin.

The infinite possibilities of the infinite await. Will we accept?

Kumud

Join us for our weekly gathering and twitter chat, Sunday, Feb 19 at 9amET / 2pmGMT / 730pm India in #SpiritChat, as we celebrate acceptance. Namaste ~ AjmaniK

Nature teaches us so much about acceptance, doesn’t it?

The Heart of Freedom

Tags

celebration, freedom, imperfection, spirituality, summer

I’m feeling a little bit disappointed that I didn’t get to the umbrella on the deck in time during the last storm. As I try to open it, I notice that the middle of the three tiers won’t fully open because one one of the supporting tines has broken in half and gone missing. The puppy is standing beside me, looking at me like I’ve lost my mind as I raise and lower the cranking mechanism in vain, hoping that it will somehow fix itself.

No such luck. As I am about to give up, I look down onto the garden, and there, sticking out of the red flowering bush, is the other half of the broken support. Hope. I retrieve it and jerry-rig the two pieces together, and walla, I have a semi-functional shade from the sun. It’s imperfectly perfect in its deformity, in that the tension has gone missing from the fabric that the broken tine now supports.

In retrospect, the storm has given me what I had wished the umbrella always had — a bit of flexibility in its undue tautness, so that it can better weather a bit more of the frequent wind gusts that tend to come off of the water. It looks a bit bent and articulated, and not so pretty any more, but it is actually more relaxed and functional and free-floating in its existence.

I go back to reading my book on Tao with the essay about being “easy and relaxed”. It speaks about harmony with the universe, about transcending both “being” and “doing’” and effortlessly switching from one to the other when necessary. It seems to bring home the message of choice, without which, it is hard to imagine any sense of true freedom.

Some will not rest until they have achieved or restored perfection, while others are at peace with their ‘brokenness’ and their imperfections. Some use their freedom to choose to walk the hard, challenging, twisted paths of life, while others are content in choosing the ‘easy’ roads. We are often judged, even defined by the world by the choices we make, and yet that is all moot, for only our heart knows the inner peace that comes from choosing what is in alignment with the call of our soul.

The willingness to choose our own path, the courage to be answerable to the heart, the ability to keep growing in connection to the divine, the rising up to be in service to others, the releasing of our inner fragrance of love — and to do all of these in a relaxed harmony with the universe — are perhaps our true freedoms. And for us to practice them, our hearts’ freedoms need not be perfect, do they?

As I finish writing this, the creaking of the sunbrella tells me that the wind is picking up and another summer evening thunderstorm approaches. This time, I am ready and present to act before I lose any more tines. I hope to have shade for a few more weeks, for summer has just begun!

Kumud

P.S. What are your thoughts on the heart of freedom? Are we really as free as we think we are? What is it that binds us, often without our awareness? I invite you to share in our weekly chat with the #SpiritChat community on Sunday July 4 (Independence Day in The USA) at 9am ET / 630pm India. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Summer flowers bloom, revealing hearts of Freedom

Messengers of Equity

Tags

equinox, equity, harmony, spirituality, spring

The onset of spring often means that I get an opportunity to align my annual “work break” with my daughters “spring break” at school. This rhythm was fortunately restored this week, after the disruption last year due to the pandemic.

The rhythm’s restoration was accompanied by the opportunity to spend a whole week filled with twelve-hour long days and nights as the equinox approached and allowed for day-dreaming and natural observation. What emerged from simple observation without agenda? It was how nature tends to do such a wonderful job of being a messenger of equity in so many of her daily rhythms.

One such messenger that I got closely acquainted with this week was the sun rise over deep blue Caribbean waters every morning. The acts of waking up early to complete my morning meditation, followed by watching the sunrises became my new natural rhythm. I could literally set my watch to the song of the bird that would start singing while the dawn was still dark. Her faith in the new light that was imminent, was as unwavering as it was uplifting.

The sunrises were far from perfect, though. On most mornings, clouds of various width, depth and height would hug the sea, obscuring a direct view of the sun. And yet, every sunrise viewing was spectacular because every one of them started out unpredictably different. However, the conclusion and the Sun’s message was always the same.

Just before 7am, silvery linings would form on the edges of the clouds. Shortly after, the sun’s orb would ascend high enough in the sky to subsume the clouds with its golden brilliance. It seemed as if the Sun, in its rising, was messaging equity to all beings, regardless of their size, status or situation in the natural order of life.

How was this daily message received by the world? One example was seen in the appearance of the pelicans, who had a predictable rhythm along the shoreline while the sunrise’s drama was unfolding. Their timing seemed to based on a synergy between the sun’s emergence and the state of the tide. They often seemed to arrive peacefully, in groups ranging from three to maybe a dozen. With grace and peace, they fearlessly and repeatedly plunged headfirst into the waters for their morning catch. Their morning ballet was a pleasant, soothing contrast to that of the raucous crows and blackbirds!

The response to the Sun’s message of peace, harmony, abundance and yes, equity, is often received and acted upon differently by many of us, isn’t it? Why is this so? Does the messaging need to be improved? Is nature using the wrong messenger?

I don’t have the answers. All I can do is relay to you the message of equity that was delivered loudly and clearly to me on this vernal equinox. Our future depends on our investment into working towards equity for all. Will we choose to listen to the messenger and act accordingly, or will we close our eyes to the light?

I hope we choose well in this new season of healing and wellness for all.

Kumud

P. S. Join us in our weekly chat, Sunday March 21 at 9am EDT / 730pm India as we celebrate the Sun’s passage through equity. I look forward to seeing you after my ‘break’. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Sunrise on the Caribbean…
March 20 2021, Vernal Equinox

P.P.S. My ‘break’ this year was made possible by being fully vaccinated relatively early (the 2nd dose was completed on Feb 6… ), and the invitation to a remote location #gratitude

The Heart of Silence

We had been hoping for rain for days so that we would find some relief from the heavy humidity and sauna-like weather which was making the air conditioning run around the clock. Be careful what you ask for – or be more precise about what you ask for.

Our request was answered by the long-distance impact of the hurricane that came ashore in the Gulf. Friday was a day of violent thunderstorms passing through, rocket-launch like thunder and cracks of lightning that struck close enough to make the heart jump. The streets outside were flooded to the extent that the tree lawn was submerged, the sump pump was running non-stop in the basement, and I sat on the floor holding the older puppy wrapped in a blanket. He hates thunder and lightning because it makes him anxious – being held is the one thing that calms him down a bit.

And then, after it was all done, and nature had had its say and moved on, there was a stillness. It was a different kind of stillness that precedes the storm. It was different in the sense that it felt like the tension of anticipation had all been exhaled and that there was now silence in nature’s heart. Something akin to that which is felt after a deep meditation in our heart.

And yet, there is something deeper that can be felt in the experience of a huge storm. Just like thunderstorms ionize the air and make the environment fresh and clean, inner storms can ionize our awareness and bring us to the heart of silence.

The heart of silence is the core where deep peace resides. We can see, hear and feel silence’s heart when we watch the puppies sleep the deep sleep, on their back, all four legs raised skywards, breathing peace. We mirror silence’s heart when we pause for the few moments when the Sun is emerging above the horizon at sunrise and just starting to submerge below the horizon at sunset.

There is no storm powerful enough to make us forget that the heart of silence is our spiritual core. It is in the silent heart that the seeds of love, inner peace, kindness, grace, service, and lightness grow and flourish as they are nourished by the vibrations of thunder, electricity of lightning and waters of life’s storms.

Look for the storms. Maybe even ask for them. And then watch as your core transforms the storm’s energy to transport you to the heart of silence.

Have a good trip, and stay safe. Namaste.

Kumud

P.S. Join us in our weekly twitter chat, Sunday Aug 30 at 9amET in #SpiritChat. We will talk about storms and silence, and share some tea and cookies, and maybe even a question or two! – @AjmaniK

Waiting for the storm… morning dew on flowers

Our Spiritual Genetics

Tags

expressions, genetics, mutations, spirituality

In high-school biology class, I was enamored by genetics, particularly Mendel’s experiments. The idea that one could selectively introduce specific traits (genes) into living beings (peas, in Mendel’s case) so that they could find subsequent expression in future generations was utterly fascinating to me. The further notion that these traits, once introduced into a species, would remain intact between generations, while finding dominant or recessive expression, was even more fascinating. For me, genetics gave new perspective to the term, individual expression.

Genetics provides the framework, the foundation for what we are given. Our inherited genetic code is something that we (apparently) cannot change. On the surface, this could be interpreted as a restriction of our freedom to choose. However, biology class also taught me that heredity is only one side of the coin. Our full individual expression is a function of our genetics and the second side of the coin, our environment. This is good news indeed, because it means that even though we may have been given a weak foundation, we still have the power of choice.

That choice is expressed in the environment that we choose. We cannot necessarily change the map, but we can choose the path, the destination and how we choose to travel. We may been born into a particular set of beliefs, values, even a religion (or lack of religion), and that is our “map”. Yet, our spiritual expression, our involution [inn(er-re)volution], need not be constrained our genetics. The choices of our associations, our communities, our personal practices reflects the type of house we build on the foundation that we are given.

But there is more. As we dig a bit deeper, and learn more about our genetics, and particularly our alleles (variations of a particular gene in a chromosome), we can gain greater awareness. For instance, we can learn why our eyes are a slightly different hue of black (or brown or blue) than those our siblings. This increased awareness can be used to mitigate the expression of some of our negative traits. With the choice of a better environment, we can alleviate or alleliate away our flaws. This is called epigenetics – by changing our genetic expression… we get closer to complete freedom!

epigenetics – the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself…

Maybe the (spiritual) giants (and Shakespeare) knew something that science is discovering just recently. The fault is not in our stars, our genetics. And even if we believe that our genetics are faulty, we have the choice to change our beliefs through our environment, and control how those so-called faults find expression. So, the question is – what do we truly believe? What is the expression of those beliefs creating within us? And if those beliefs are not creating world-brightening, full-spectrum-of-color expression(s), are we willing to change them?

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. I invite you to join us on Sunday, March 4th at 9amET/7:30pmIndia for our weekly chat on twitter in #SpiritChat – we will discuss “Spiritual Genetics” and more, as we unwind the double helix. Namaste. Kumud.

The DNA Double Helix – Foundation of our Genetics

The Spirit of Inner Light

The Spirit of Inner Light

by Elisa Balabram

Happy Diwali! As the Festival of Lights is celebrated, let’s take a moment this Sunday to reflect on our Inner Light.

The light that makes us who we are.

The light we share with ourselves and others.

The light we, knowingly or unknowingly, choose to dim at times.

The light that lights our shadows.

The light that keeps us alive.

The light that may shine brighter when we feel joyful.

The light that may dim when we feel sad.

The light we see in each other.

The light we see or ignore within ourselves.

The light that represents our uniqueness.

The light that never blinds and always illuminates.

The light.

My light. Your light. Our light.

– Elisa Balabram (@womenandbiz)

Please join my good friend and community member, Elisa Balabram (@womenandbiz) as she steps up to host our weekly #spiritchat on twitter – Sunday, October 22nd at 9amET – share your light! Thank you! – Kumud @AjmaniK

Chat Summary: https://storify.com/ajmanik/the-spirit-of-inner-light

On Spiritual Nutrition

Tags

food, nutrition, purity, spirituality

We often hear the adage that “we are what we eat”. If we believe that there is any truth in this adage, it is perhaps useful to (occasionally) examine “what we eat”. If we can honestly examine our “eating habits”, we can correlate our observations to our moods, our energy levels and our general health. An examination may reveal answers to questions like “who are we”? What are we eating? What nutrition is our ‘food’ providing us? Are our ‘food’ habits sustainable for the health of the individual, for our communities, for planet Earth?

“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

The relationship that we have with food is indeed complex. It is influenced by our upbringing and what we were fed as children. The eating habits formed during childhood can be difficult to change in adulthood. It is often a health crisis or the onset of a chronic illness, accompanied by chronic pain, that may pull us towards change. However, food and nutrition are often neglected in the healing cycle in favor of modern medical intervention. We often pay scarce attention to the nutritional profile of our food as a link to illness.

Growing up in India, a large part of my diet – almost 99% of it – was based on fruits, milk, vegetables and plant based products. As a resident of the USA, the balance of my food habits shifted. I often oscillated between ‘pure vegetarian’, ‘no red-meat’, ‘chicken and fish only’ and (currently) back to ‘100% vegetarian’. It has been a long journey, but I can say with reasonable certainty that I feel most at ‘home’ with my current ways of eating. My energy level and overall health, not to mention my emotional and mental well-being seem to be uplifted, ever since I returned home to my ‘eating roots’.

But what does ‘food and nutrition’ have to do with spirituality? It is no secret that if we eat well and feel physically well, it can have a remarkable impact on our spiritual practice. It is very tough to focus, to meditate, when the mind is being attacked by (physical and emotional) pain signals. In addition, the states of health of our immediate family members affect our ability to create time and space for spiritual practice(s). Our state of health affects all those we are connected to. Our personal ability to maintain a good state of health frees up community resources, and we lighten our ‘footprint’ on the planet.

Please indulge me as I ask some ‘nutrition’ questions. What is the state of the quality, the vitality, the purity of our food and nutrition intake? Are we mindful of the impact of our consumption habits on our own selves? How much awareness do we have of the sustainability of our (re)sources? What aspect(s) of our ‘nutrition’ could we change to make ourselves feel physically, mentally, emotionally (and spiritually) better TODAY?

As is often the case, asking one question leads to many. The ‘easy’ way out is to simply bury that one question. But you didn’t read this far to take the ‘easy way out’, did you? Your well being, the well being of your family, your community, of the planet depends on asking the question – what am I eating?

Ask the question. Keep a ‘log’ of the answers. Change one habit. Observe. Ask the question again. Compare with your previous answers. If you observe a positive change, change another habit. Repeat the observation. Who knows. In the short span of a few months, you could create a “circle of health excellence” around you.

Namaste,

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. I want to acknowledge and express gratitude to @VegyPower on twitter, who inspired me to return to the 100% vegetarian habit about two years ago. Thank you. Please follow them, if you aren’t already. If you are in the Chicago area, please visit the upcoming @VeggieFest (August 12th and 13th). And yes, do join the #SpiritChat community on twitter, Sunday August 7th as we ask some questions about Spirituality and Nutrition. Perhaps this topic will become the theme for the month of August. Namaste.

Planet Earth Blooms. Keep it blooming!

Let us walk lightly, gently…

Celebrating Guides and Guidance

Tags

celebration, guidance, guides, guru

We celebrate a lot of occasions in our lives. Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, weddings, national holidays, international days, and much more. There is one annual celebration that is perhaps unique to Indian (vedic) tradition – it is the celebration of our spiritual guide(s) and the guidance that they provide to us. As it is with most Indian spiritual traditions, this celebration is also connected to the lunar calendar.

This year, the celebration of our guide(s), referred to as “Guru” in India, is marked for July 9th 2017. In modern times, the term “Guru” has expanded much beyond its original usage to refer to an ‘influential teacher’ or ‘subject matter expert’. The original use of the term referred to a highly revered ‘spiritual teacher’ who was trusted by royalty to provide advice, and to impart guidance to those who ‘qualified’ to be guided. And what made one ‘qualified’ to be taught or guided? Consider this:

“To him (or her) who has thus approached reverently, whose heart is tranquil, and whose senses are under control, let the wise Guru teach the real knowledge, by which the true and immortal Being is known” – Mundaka Upanishad

The Upanishad(s) are a series of wisdom “books” that distilled the essence of the ancient Vedas, which themselves contained the wisdom and traditions of ancient India. The word Upanishad literally means, “to sit near the sphere of influence of” (the radiance of the guide or Guru). There are many stories and parables about how the guide would test the student, before agreeing to accept them as a student. Think of it as an entrance examination or a college application – one had to be accepted in order to enter the “sphere of the guide”!

But, I digress a bit. Let me briefly return to the three qualifications of a student as referred to in the quote. First, “one who has approached reverently”. This implies a sense of humility, a willingness to learn, and an “emptying of the vessel” by the student. Second, “whose heart is tranquil”. This suggests a state of harmony within the student’s heart. We stand to learn and absorb much more (in any environment) if our heart is at peace – don’t you think? Third, “whose senses are under control”. To me, this refers to the state of our mind, our power of discernment, and how well we have control of the same.

It may seem like all the qualities that ‘qualify’ us to be taught by a ‘spiritual guide’ are the very qualities that we are seeking help for from our guide in the first place! If we already had these three qualities developed within, why would we need the guide or Guru anyway? What more could the guide teach us? The answer is perhaps in the last part of the quote – “let the wise teach the real knowledge by which the true and immortal is known”.

We arrive with reverence, harmony and good discernment. We receive guidance towards truth and immortality. That is worthy of celebration, don’t you think?

Namaste,

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. Join us on twitter for our weekly #SpiritChat conversation on Sunday, July 9th 2017 at 9amET (USA) / 1pm UTC / 630pm (India). We will celebrate our guides and share guidance over tea, cookies, and a guided, online meditation to follow at 8pmET (contact me directly for details on this). Namaste.

Celebrating Guides and Guidance that arrives through many mediums, from many directions…

Update: Storify Summary of Chat – https://storify.com/ajmanik/on-guides-and-guidance

On Freedom and Reality

Tags

freedom, reality, spiritual practice

Just like that, it is the first of July and we step into the second half of the year. Time has an unerring way of bringing us face to face with reality – however we may define reality. In the USA, the onset of July brings us a celebration of “Independence Day”, and our kindred neighbors to the north in Canada celebrate “Victoria Day” (Happy 150th, Canada!). On these occasions, it is natural for many of us to reflect upon our personal freedoms, and the practical realities of said freedom(s) in our daily lives and actions.

As long as we do not live alone on a deserted island, the reality is that our friends, families and communities affect our daily freedoms, and their exercise of it. This effect manifests in the decisions that we make when we live in a civil society. In order to add value to their lives, and often for greater good, we often accept the reality that our personal freedom of external action may not be absolute. It is relatively easy to make declarations of our Independence, but we need energy and commitment to fight for “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Commitment conveys our declarations from mere intellect to reality, frees us to take action.

It takes even greater energy and commitment to preserve our freedom. The freedoms gained also need a constitution – a governing agreement among people – for their preservation, in order to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”. In order to anchor themselves to reality, and recalibrate their freedom(s), organizations, communities, families and even individuals, may establish constitutions. From these frameworks can emerge the governing principles of our live, the values that fuel our actions, and measures of our personal growth.

For most of us, the demands of living in the external world subject us to space and time. Even as I write this, there are small decisions that I need to make over the next few hours that will affect what I and my family will do this weekend. These small decisions aren’t made in a vaccuum, and a give and take of personal freedom(s) of all family members is necessary in order to maintain a dynamic family harmony. Does this reality sound familiar to you?

So, where does true freedom, if it exists, exist? For the most part, our external world seems to be devoid of it. We can intellectually read about and even talk about ‘freedom from fear’ and such related things, but how much of our daily decisions are informed by fear? And how about our internal world? Is it possible that unfettered freedom exists within us? If so, have you experienced the reality of inner freedom for yourself?

As I develop my daily practice of meditation, there are occasions where I find disconnection from the transient and (re)connection with the permanent. While the state of reconnection with the permanent is often fleeting in itself, it is the closest that I have perhaps ever felt to true freedom. Even though the reconnection is fleeting, it brings one great Joy to realize that true inner freedom is indeed an experiential reality. How about you? What have your experiences of ‘real freedom’ – external or internal – been like? How do ‘reality’ affect the exercise of your personal freedom(s)?

I invite you to visit with us in #SpiritChat on Sunday, July 2nd at 9amET/1pmUTC on twitter, as we share and celebrate freedom and reality. I will bring some real questions and virtual cookies and sparklers. You are free to bring whatever you wish to share.

Namaste,

Kumud @AjmaniK

A new experience of freedom this week, as I discovered a new reservation with unexplored trails and bridges…

On Spiritual Rescue and Rehab

Tags

action, rehabilitation, rescue, spirituality, yoga

We are like turtles on the path of life… we often develop hard shells to protect our soft cores from life’s many attacks – sometimes our shells get cracked – we may even lose half a face and an eye, get a cracked lower jaw, barely able to eat or drink, left for dead, paralyzed and bleeding in the middle of the road that we were simply trying to cross – and then, along comes One who has the heart of a rescuer, compassion in action, who takes that extra moment to pause and examine, who does not judge whether we are worth saving or not but simply acts – and before we know it, a sling is fashioned from a scarf, we are placed on a pillow in the back of the car, and brought to the warmth and relative safety of a garage to spend the night, hopefully to rest and receive a bit of healing…

We all have felt the intervention of those who have literally rescued us from a path of self-destruction, or after being ‘run over’ by the world around us… for some of us, this ‘rescue’ has happened more than once, perhaps because we needed to be rescued (again and again)… we weren’t strong enough to get out of rehab just yet, we hadn’t healed enough, our shell was still cracked from that first battle, and we decided to take on the world again…

Morning came, and I was almost reluctant to step into the garage to check on the patient. At first glance, she looked awfully still in the open box. I walked away, to return a few minutes later. A little nudge of t5ht he box, and she poked her head out a bit from under her shell. Relief. At least she had made it through the night. The rescue work of my wife (trained nurse), ably assisted by my daughter (nurse in training) and her visiting friend (aspiring veterinarian), had bore fruit in the very short term.

It often takes a potential tragedy to bring out our best rescue and rehab skills, for us to discover our hidden strengths, and to perform actions that are in harmony, excellence and alignment with the greatest good of the moment… that is true spirit of Union, of Yoga… the moment(s) where all of our spiritual practice(s) meet higher, selfless action.

At 9am, as soon as the local Nature Center opened, we received a call in response to the message we had left last night. “Bring her in. We would love to try and rehab her”. Off to the nature center we went, for the next step – a chance at rehabilitation by trained specialists who would do their best at healing and perhaps a full recovery. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a full recovery, with a release back into the wild in our neighborhood. We hope to meet “Sally Ride” once again.

The entire rescue and rehab effort brought a lot of folks together – we (re)connected with the local science and nature center, received very good advice from a turtle rescue center in North Carolina, connected with a reptile expert in Southern Ohio, and tapped into many online resources online and YouTube movies about shell repair and restoration… my daughter is even considering to a summer project about the life of turtles (and maybe even Ohio wildlife)…

I am sure you have been witness or beneficiary of such Yoga in Action too – what was the situation? Who was the rescuer/the rescued? What resources and energies came together to affect the rescue and rehab? How did the experience affect you, your (long and short term) spiritual outlook on life and nature? Share your stories with us in #SpiritChat on twitter – Sunday, June 25th 2017 at 9amET/1pmUTC. Let us celebrate International Yoga Week with Excellence in Action.

Kumud @AjmaniK