Spring and Yoga in the Tucson Desert
As we move into April, I am thinking about simple ways to balance my body, mind, and heart as the season changes. There are various options from the Yogic perspective; diet and exercise adjustments, shifts to our daily routine, tweaks to or our meditation practice. What I am contemplating most, as usual, is the heart.
This poem fragment from Rainer Maria Rilke speaks to my heart:
It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.
That touches me deeply for some reason, and that touching feeling transports me to the reality of Spring. Spring as a felt experience. Spring as my child self. Spring as poems!
In the desert, Spring is special as it is our pause before the extreme heat. If we are mindful, we make the most of these mild days. We enjoy the ability to cease heating and/or cooling our homes, cars, offices. We sleep with the windows open. We enjoy the wild flowers. Just yesterday I realized even the little flowers track the sun. Just today I noticed the lizard we call “Jacomo”, doing push-ups on the top edge of the back wall outside the kitchen window. Jacomo picture, awake from his winter hibernation!
A gem of teaching regarding discipline in eating:
…is a cause for celebration; therefore, accept it wholeheartedly, a little at a time. Make it yours. Let the word discipline become like a fragrant flower for you, so that every time you hear this word you think, ‘Ahhh. Intoxicating! It is so wonderful!’ Instead of cringing and contracting at the idea of discipline, let your being expand, let your heart run to embrace it. -Swami Chidvilasananda
Happy Spring! Natasha
Jacomo our Desert Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus magister)
Natasha Korshak is a long-time teacher and trainer of yoga, meditation, mindfulness and MBSR, and has been working in the field of integrative health and wellness her entire professional career. She is a graduate of the Interfaith Theological Seminary and an ordained Interfaith Minister specializing in contemplative practice, grief processing, and spiritual direction. Her study and training of mind/body/spirit methods is extensive and she has learned from many of the pioneers in their discipline. As the founder and director of the Sol Center she is well regarded for her depth, warmth, authenticity, and the smile in her voice.
