This past weekend I was in the high desert of Joshua Tree attending Shakti Fest, a gathering of yogis from all walks of life. Held in the spring over Mother's Day weekend, Shakti Fest has been honoring the divine feminine for the past seven years. Just after Labor Day (early September here in the USA), is a slightly larger festival called Bhakti Fest which celebrates its ninth year in just a few months. I've attended all but one Shakti and Bhakti Fest, so this experience certainly wasn't a new one for me. The beauty of the gathering, apart from the stunning desert and its sunsets, is a confluence of people who practice yoga from many different angles. Daily yoga classes, meditation, workshops, chanting, sound baths, vegetarian food, chai, organic coffee, and acai bowls abound. And the MUSIC! A plethora of talent adorns the stage for three straight days with an abundance of dancing and devotion. It's all quite astounding that this gathering happens twice a year and it's only 45 minutes from where I live.
Yet what I love most is the gathering of community. Over the years of attending, I have seen both my local yoga community and this larger bhakti community grow. It offers me the rare opportunity to sit in deep conversation with many of the people I've come to know. So many of my daily interactions are with students as they come and go from classes. I don't often get a chance to have more than a few minutes of conversation. Over this past weekend, I had so many open-hearted discussions that fed my own soul. It was beautiful to hear deeply about the path many people are exploring.
Three conversations, in particular, had one thing in common--how suffering leads to transformation. It led to my thought of the week of staying open. Although the individual circumstances of each person varied-one coming to terms with an auto-immune disorder, another in conflict with their son and another, the breaking up of a 35-year relationship. Uncertainty, discomfort, and anger were present, yet it was so fascinating to notice that these powerful emotions didn't seem to be smothering the person's ability to experience love and joy. Laying below the surface was this sense of equanimity with each person having a strong practice that is supporting them whether through kirtan (music/chanting), meditation, or the physical practice of yoga. Although under immense life stresses, these people were able to stay wide open to the current experience, knowing perhaps only on a subconscious level, that making peace with what is, rather than pushing it away or ignoring it, opens the way for greater long-term growth.
Challenges create transformation and big challenges can be the fertile soil in which tremendous growth takes place. When I was 19, my father passed away at the age of 46. The grief was immense and I had no experience or tools by which to deal with the heaviness of grief. It took almost 25 years for me to process and acknowledge the sadness that I had stuffed so deeply into my tissues. It was through my deepening practice of yoga and meditation as well as being in a safe and supportive environment that I could finally come face-to-face with a deep sadness. In finally releasing this weight, I was able to be at ease with the love of the relationship I had experienced with my Dad. And it taught me a profound life lesson-life is short, things change, so make the most of your heart's calling.
Many years later, I now know that staying open to the present experience, no matter how difficult, ugly, challenging or unpleasant it may be, needs to move through us and not become embedded within us. Is this easy? No. Is it a powerful teacher? Absolutely yes.
Our lesson for this week is to acknowledge our toughest life lessons and honor what they have taught us. It is to remember to stay open to whatever may be arising and to realize that all of life is impermanent.
Breathe into your heart and let go!
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