“Where’s the sparkle?” I was lying in a hypnogogic state along with 30 other Mountain Yoga students when Bethany Hobb's whisper floated across the zoom waves and landed feathery-light in my subconscious. We were deep in one of Bethany's dreamy Yoga Nidra sessions held during the pandemic. Her question took tender root and has continued to grow since. Where is the sparkle?
My mom was a super sparkly person. (I was not.) She loved a good razzle dazzle and was drawn to all things bright and shiny. As her daughter I pushed back and held fast to the adage that “all things that glitter are not gold.” Whether literal or metaphorical, I equated the sparkly with the superficial, the glittery with the garish. (I was a serious girl more drawn toward murky depths than dazzling heights.)
Now older, and presumably wiser, I look for the sparkle whenever I sense my days — or my yoga — becoming a bit dull and lifeless. I respect the sparkle and even more, the spark before it. That combustive kiss between two things that results in a flash of something new and alive: a spark of insight, of joy, of inspiration, of recognition.
The spark of recognition is a big deal in yoga. It is called is pratyabhijñā and is the moment when self and Self recognize one another, when we truly get that we are one with everything. I've had some yogic fireworks of this sort in my life, but I have come to really love the many little sparklers found in each ordinary day. Like the moment I get the joke. The tears that spring from a good lyric. A stranger's nod in my direction that recognizes my humanity. Life touching me, me touching life, like the sun's rays when they meet the surface of the water. Together they shimmer.
Today I'm sharing a handful of things — profound and silly, mundane and mystical — that may spark something in you. Click the button to add a sparkle of your own — and let me know if you'd like more of this next month!
internal rotation is at the heart of garudhasana, eagle pose.
1. Internal rotation of the hips gets its due After years of accenting external rotation in yoga classes, the commensurate importance of internal rotation is having its moment in the spotlight for helping feet, ankles, knees, mobility and balance. This recent article by Yoga Journal is a good introduction (though I've seen better exercises!)
2. Choo chew! I was on the receiving end of a Meal Train this month as I was recovering from a surgery. More than a meal delivery, this was a LOVE delivery! The passing of a home cooked meal from one set of hands to another fed my soul, as much as my belly! I took the opportunity to google the O'Jay's great tune Love Train — pure joy!
L: Laghunyasa, part of the Kashmir Shaivism tradition. R: Souvla's Mission
3. Make it Nice and Be Nice. I came across this modern day mantra at my favorite Greek restaurant Souvla. (Are mission statements today's mantras?) As good as any any I've heard — and the food is equally good!
6. "Aha" Travel. As T.S. Elliott wrote, "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." I'm traveling to Mallorca this fall with a group of students on retreat, and have one room left. If you could use a brilliant new perspective, this room could have your name on it!
