In Praise of Wildness

In my struggle to release the grip my mind has had lately on wanting to figure Everything out, to over-intellectualize, as it were, I've been turning inward, creating space and quietude. For myself.

Then, this morning, in yoga, my teacher shared this passage that brought Everything into perspective. Into my cells, actually...

Here's what she read:

"Wildness is the state of complete awareness. That's why we need it."

~Gary Snyder, Turtle Island

The more still we become

the more wildness arises within.

Does a lion feel the pleasure

of its power gathering

like river water at a dam,

its strength building as it sleeps,

dreaming of the chase?

Can a snake never be straight,

but merely uncoiled,

waiting to spring to movement?

Is a hurricane a wilderness of air?

A cyclone a suspended door

to a turbulent sky?

Does the heart grow larger

in the glassed-in chest

when we forgive?

That's the wildness.

Can you let it

embolden you,

made form, made flesh?

From this wildness,

can every cell in your body

find gratitude,

make praise?

~Leza Lowitz, an excerpt from Yoga Heart

...and so, I invite you to sit quietly and breathe into that wildness. May it bring you a felt sense of knowing, a keen awareness beyond words.

Namaste.