When I first came to this country I became very homesick for something you may not guess. Of course while I missed the familiar warmth of grandparents, relatives and friends – and yes, let’s not forget the refined aesthetically pleasing food… all that yes… BUT what I missed the most may have been something I feel relatively new societies with little history (2-3 hundred years vs. 4-5 thousand years…) seem to lack entirely…
What is it?
Rituals… I love rituals…rituals are what makes this life … meaningful as we trip and fall over in our efforts to find our Dharma.
It’s not only food and water that nourishes us. We nourish ourselves one slow yogic breath at a time – one replenishing ritual at a time in recognizing the miracle in the ordinary. Small rituals are the medicine prescribed by the divine.
Rituals allow us to find what’s authentic…as I pursue my home away from home through the practice of … rituals. Incorporate it in your everyday. Rituals are centering… grounding… and… healing. As I see it, many of us are TOO independent and TOO alone and self-absorbed. (someone said, to be alone may be a choice we seek but “to be lonely” is … what? )
Yeah, sure, you can just do restorative yoga at home. You can do any yoga at home alone. You don’t need a teacher nor a guide – just find a “teacher” for the moment on the internet… buy a manual, a book that explains all… BUT did you know we are wired to be tribal? While I have my home practice of yoga and there’s enough DVDs and YogaGlow recordings… I never have to step into a room full of humans again to practice yoga; and yet, I crave the rituals shared in a community of yoga students… that’s when it gets powerful. One singular intention is just that, one; but multiple intentions of many – a group intention is so big and powerful. That’s why when people say they have a home practice (me too – been a recluse by choice), I wonder – have you been to a yoga studio lately? There’s a certain communal energy that envelopes us there to bring about what’s authentic is us all.
Tribal energy is greater than a single independent energy… Native Americans knew this.
Message to Mankind from a Hopi Elder (picked up during my trip to Grand Canyon) :
“You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour. Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour. And there are things to be considered….
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for your leader.”
Then it is said that he smiled, and went on, “This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing now, very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and suffer greatly.
Know that the river has its destination. The elders say we must push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history we are to take nothing personally least of all ourselves, for the moment we do that, our spiritual growth comes to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves; banish the word ‘struggle’ from your attitude and vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred way and in celebration.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
-Hopi Elder, Hopi Nation, Oraibi, Arizona
While this may have been a call to “his” people, many took it as a call to all – to mankind. The messiah we seek is within us, among us… and it is comforting to know that truth.
