standing still and learning to be astonished.

i did it! i stood on my head! three times!

i was so excited and surprised at my ability to do something i never thought i'd have to the strength to do that i wanted to stand up and cry out to everyone in class. and just like that, as i'm silently bathing in my excitement, sharon reminds us all to let go of whatever has just happened, good or bad. "detach it from your ego." she continues, "when we attached things to the ego, we become disappointed." and i thought, yes, this is true in all things. in yoga, in life, and most certainly in art, to which i give my life's work. and as we came back into the world and into ourselves after savasana, she read this poem, "messenger."

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

Mary Oliver

and i thought, yes. yes, this the truth.