Oxygen to the Soul

If you are reading this, know that I have written this days earlier, and this is a scheduled post. I am just about ready to enter the silent portion of my yoga retreat. No, I didn’t know this was part of the package when I signed, up, but I’m looking forward to it — wherever it leads can only be a good thing. Reflection is always good for the soul. But can you just sit with me for a minute to think about how much courage it takes to shut down the phone, close the laptop and just let be what will be?  Thanks.

Whatever posts I’m allowed to write in the next few minutes, I will schedule throughout the week, and then I’m closing the laptop.

I will be doing lots of yoga… three – four times a day — it looks like here on the schedule. The rest of the time, I will be immersed in sacred texts. I have homework and periods of reflection and writing and creative exercises. There are two times when talking is permitted: 9:30 in the morning and again at 2:30 in the afternoon. Then I meet with my spiritual director as we reflect on the insights gathered from the readings, and she provides my next reading/writing assignment. There are other people here as well, but we are directed not to speak to one another– which is such a relief! No need to make small talk.

The work here is intense…and exciting. My room is filled with books, with intriguing titles. And my room is so lovely — 8 windows that look out onto trees full of blooms and luscious leaves. There are four twin beds in my room — all spread apart in different sections like a little apartment. There is a fireplace, and just like Goldilocks, I’ll be sleeping on each one until I find the one that is just right. There’s a big Grandfather clock downstairs that chimes at just the right times. And the yoga is hot and sweaty.

I will impart this one gem of wisdom here before I leave, something I just read in one of the ancient texts I was asked to read:

To withhold recognition is a deep sign of insecurity on the part of those who see but will not recognize another person’s value. It is so much easier to ignore what we cannot better than it is to compete with it.

To withhold recognition is to withhold oxygen of the soul.

Where can you shower some oxygen today?

If all goes as planned, I will be able to post three more stories right now to appear throughout the week while I’m gone. Hope it works, because after this, my computer will be out of commission.