A Shaman’s Prayer

Walk through this place as a visitor.
Respect all things you come upon and you will be respected.
Respect all people you come upon and you will be honored.
Pray to all the gods you come upon and you will be accepted.
He who honors the traditions of all ancient people and all contemporary people has no enemy.
You are the caretakers of realization.Realization by any name is the awareness that you or God.
The feeling of great understanding is Love.The man or woman who attains God is the man or woman who walks each day as though he or she is on vacation from heaven, the vacation on Planet Earth in Human Body, the journey called reincarnation.It was never meant for you to establish residency here.
You were meant to taste here, to enjoy yourself in its rituals and sacraments, with wisdom to experience the passion, anger, joy, love, and peace.
Yourself in the presence of the great trees that are forever green.
You are a visitor to this body, to this planet.

The gold you seek, the house you build, the relationships you form are only for the experience to keep, to help you forever weaving the experience called you.
I come to you from a world that is within you, that awaits you, that brings you to my world through the gate of dignity, self-respect, and self-love.

~ A Peruvian Shamans prayer*

I’m finally finding my way back into yoga.  I stopped a few years ago, wanting to find a class that was very specific.  When it turned out that there wasn’t one close enough to work for me, I intended to sign up again, but somehow didn’t get around to it.  Then this spring, when my mom was so sick, I decided to go back to my old Thursday evening class, to help me cope with the stress of trying (and failing) to help my mom recover.  It did help, but a year or two away does things to your body, your mind, your concentration, and mostly I’ve been stuck in the physical part of yoga, while my mind wanders around, thinking of my mom, of how sick she was, missing her terribly.  Taking that time to be physical opened my mind to so many thoughts, and I often found myself crying in class.  My teacher and fellow students were compassionate, and made me feel welcome to continue my healing there.

But yoga is supposed to be much more than just the postures, the exercise, the body.  It is supposed to be your mind, your heart, your spirit.  It can be a very religious experience.  Getting to this point, however, takes time and work.  I started taking yoga to help me relax, to help me be calm and to breathe.  Once, just once, several years ago, I got a tiny glimpse that there was something beyond just the body to yoga.   I was able to concentrate and just be there, not letting my mind wander to blogging or dinner or work or Ted or Maya…it was brief, but it happened.

In this way, I think yoga is similar to meditation, or to prayer.  It is in the letting go of yourself, surrendering to the moment in which you live, that you are able to find yourself.  It is very calming, restorative, and nourishing.  I highly recommend it.

*I’m not sure of the source of this writing, just that my yoga teacher brought it to class a few weeks ago and read it to us.  There were parts of it that struck me, and I asked her for a copy.

~ DoSoEvAyMo
Today is payday, so I’ll be paying those bills that are due before the end of the month.  And working.  Busy time of year for payroll tax analysts like me, with all the year end tax changes, etc.   That’s OK, busy is better than bored. 😉