Holding Onto Good Vibes

Last weekend I attended Shakti Fest, a three-day yoga and music festival held in the high desert of Joshua Tree.  I have now been to several Shakti and Bhakti Fests over the past five years with Shakti Fest being smaller than Bhakti Fest (held for four days in early fall). Shakti Fest is a sweet celebration of breath, movement, music, great vegetarian food (masala dosa!) and community.

I go to these events in large part to refuel my own energy tank. A large part of my work is sending energy out to others and holding the space for people to be in whatever experience arises. Following a busy season here in the low desert, my fuel gauge is reading empty.  A day at such a festival always begins with my usual morning meditation and then it's off to either a group chanting of the 40-verse Hanuman Chalisa, a yoga class (often outside under a shade canopy) or sitting at the main stage listening to kirtan (devotional chanting).  The day continues to unfold in hanging out with friends, old and new, chanting, dancing, eating, resting and listening.  It usually culminates late into the evening with a headlining kirtan artist leaving us in an energized, if not ecstatic, state of bliss.

Following the Saturday night kirtan in which Jai Uttal lifted the roof I was in a delicious conversation with two recent graduates of my yoga teacher training.  One asked, "How do we hang onto feeling this incredible?"

Great question!  We head off to an event, retreat or vacation and the moment we touch down in our familiar home environment the sweetness seems to evaporate all too soon.  How can we hold onto such sweetness?

Over the years I've come to realize that the sweetness is magnified when we fill up our own bucket on a regular basis.  Meditation teacher, Sharon Salzberg, once told a story of each of us having our own spiritual bucket.  If we gaze down into it, we often see that it's empty and echoes easily.  Yet, over time, every act we undertake that serves and supports how we want to be in the world, is like adding another drop into our own bucket.  The more frequently we act, speak and think in a way that moves us along our spiritual path, the more we build up the contents of our spiritual bucket.

If we step onto our yoga mat only once a week and take nothing off the mat and into our everyday lives, the process will take a long time to fill up our bucket.  Yet, if we begin to live from this perspective, every act is another drop.  

When I attend these events, it's as though I open up a deluge of drops into my depleted bucket.  I intensify my own practice so that when I refuel, I am able to come "off the mountain" and back into the day to day feeling energized, connected and able to lovingly hold the space for all that I do.  This is a vital part of maintaining the longevity of how I wish to be in the world, which is feeling so much love and connection that there truly is room for nothing else.

What are you doing to fill up your bucket?