SACRED SPACE

AT THE END OF 2023 we spent 2 months in India and some of these poems reflect my experience in the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Ganeshpuri where we participated in a retreat called Pilgrimage to the Heart and then stayed and offered service.   Sacred space  seems to exist in  "powerful" physical locations, in reality we each carry own Sacred Space in our Hearts.

The Nobel Laureate poet Joseph Brodsky said :
Humanity should always be in touch with the Gods,
Poetry carries their messages,
A poem encases humanity.

Transcript

AT THE END OF 2023 we spent 2 months in India and some of these poems reflect my experience in the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Ganeshpuri where we participated in a retreat called Pilgrimage to the Heart and then stayed and offered service.   Sacred space  seems to exist in  "powerful" physical locations, in reality we each carry own Sacred Space in our Hearts.

The Nobel Laureate poet Joseph Brodsky said :
Humanity should always be in touch with the Gods,
Poetry carries their messages,
A poem encases humanity.

RETREAT TIME

The line to the heart forms early.

The pilgrims want to start

The journey to Bliss

We don’t want to miss.

It is that everlasting state

When we have a clean slate

Free from our own fate

Why wait?

Sweet silence.

We will embrace.

Stillness, quiet will take us deep 

into the love we all seek.

Hoping all this happens in a week!

Now we each have to step in.

And keep walking down the path.

To become one with our own beautiful hearts, 

where only love, joy, contentment, and peace exist.

MEDITATING IN THE CAVE

The small shoeless group

Stand waiting for the click

4 am

The sign switches 

From closed to open

Open to grace

We silently filter in

Through the curtains 

keeping in the darkness.

Enveloped in the stillness 

We each find our comfortable spot

Pranaming to our Siddha Gurus

Carefully placing our asanas

We find the perfect posture

In a few breathes

We are all meditating as one

The blanket of silence and stillness 

Intensifies 

filling the cave 

…..

Until someone moves

It is 5am, chai time

My inner timer is triggered

And one by one

We gather our asanas

we slowly drift out

To hot sweet chai

Under the stars

To start another beautiful day

Of chanting and seva

In Gurudev Siddha Peeth 

Pranam = is a form of respectful or reverential salutation

Asana = white wool meditation seat

Seva = offering service

To find out more about Siddha Yoga and the terms I used please  go to the website SiddhaYoga.org

SACRED SPACE in Sedona
Inspired by Hill Country by Tracy K Smith

(Music recorded on the trail, by Kenny the flute man)

In the distance

High in the red hills

Up the steep narrow path

Stumbling on slippery

Loose stones and rocks,

There is the ancient cave.

A sheltering place

For the God of all creatures;

Fissures, giant cracks

Open to the sky

Light streams in from the blueness.

What has lived and died here?

In the stony dryness, a frog

Still jumping, staying close

Along the shaded wall

Hidden from its hunters,

Surprises his human companion.

why are you here? He asks.

Why not, frog seems to reply.

Now scrambling back down

After sitting for a while (timeless)

In the caves expansive silence.

Now Aware of the scared space

Expanding out 

Into the surrounding country.

This sacred space, this peace

Is floating along inside me now.

Now that I am ready to return

Down the steep narrow path

To the place I now 

Call home.

NATURE CALLS THE TUNE

Stepping outside

Down the steps

Into the symphony,

Early morning Bird songs

Caress me with a cloak. (Surround)

Colorful, cheerful, welcoming

Cooing doves

High pitched crackles

Chirping mocking birds 

squawking Ibises

Formation flying above.

in the distance

Shrieking Osprey partners

Call to each other.

Moving toward the water

The golden sunlight

Turns the harlequin dragonflies

Into Sparkling jewels

Twirling and whirling

Welcoming into nature’s temple

Into this scared space

With stillness in the air

Filled with golden light

sparkling sounds

I am home again.

PROLOGUE

Helen Keller said

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart

©MartinStrasmore2024