I’m on vacation this week, enjoying some wonderful lakeside R&R in Maine. A beautiful spot not only for its physical beauty but its annual reminder to live more simply and in tune with nature.
I said good-bye to the folks in my yoga classes last week as I will not be teaching again until September. It’s bittersweet, as it is my passion to share the mind/body/spiritual elements of the practice. But this is my annual dive inward–practicing on a dock or a deck each day–just being, not doing a whole lot. However, I will especially miss teaching during eclipse week in late August–which is kind of a big deal–likely the last full eclipse of the sun in my lifetime. And I just cannot get Carly Simon’s lyrics from “You’re So Vain” out of my head when I write that (…then you flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun…).
I asked my classes last week in a “moon themed” class to imagine themselves, their shining gifts, their offering to this world, their pure radiance, as the light of the sun. So beautiful, bright and stunning. Now imagine the moon fully darkening that light as it would in an eclipse. Doesn’t feel that good, does it? And yet, this is our lives….we let so much get in the way of shining our brightest.
Maybe it is a lens–the lens of your life–that needs cleaning. Seeing things a bit differently may be what is necessary. Maybe it is a story that you’ve been holding onto, or something–anything–that isn’t serving you any longer. Time to let it go and shift perspective. Celebrate the eclipse by giving yourself permission to radiate to your fullest potential.
Remember, the actual eclipse is fleeting and the sun comes out the other side.