Shakti
I went to the LACMA yesterday with my dear friend Ana to see Tim Burton's exhibit. We literally walked into the mouth of one of Burton's monster and into a wacky, whimsical, dark yet never too threatening world. I was in awe and so giddy to be surrounded by his drawings, his handwriting, his paintings, his work. As I was looking at the art a part of me nudged me forward, as if saying, "You can do this too!" Ana and I enjoyed ourselves immensely at the museum. Then I went home with a strong desire to create, took out my sketch pad and drew a lion. A little lion: Sitting regally, smiling. I thought it was lovely. Then I wrote a few pages for my writing class. Then I cooked a meal. Then I went to teach a class.
We all have Shakti- literally cosmic power- within us. We all are Shakti. It is the power that is continually becoming the world and it is our essence. Whenever someone is incredibly creative, it touches a part of us that we recognize and we are able to see our creativity in theirs, whilst yearning for the day when we too can express it as masterfully. Henry Miller has a stunning quote about creativity that I have been reading in my classes this week. Several students asked me for the quote so here it is:
"Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heartache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty. Everyone, when they get quiet, when they become desperately honest with themselves, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, only to discover what is already there."
I am fascinated with how Shakti means both "Goddess" and also means our own energy. When we connect to this throbbing creative river within, we are accessing this power that is eternally becoming this moment, and the next. May we continue to tap into it, in our art, in our writing, in our yoga, in our lives.
Classes have been all vastly different even though the theme has been the same. Class yesterday night at BD was very fiery, with lots of arm balances and bound poses. Then today the AM class at Still was much more introspective, with deep hip openers and lotuses. Then The Practice today had tons of inversions, backbends and hip openers. When I started to teach yoga many years ago, I used to teach the same class over and over- which is a great tool for new teachers. However I kept doing that because I didn't trust myself and wanted to control as much as I could, the unknown. Now I feel like I am walking towards a cliff each time I teach- not really knowing how the class will go.
I take a risk (a word that comes from the Latin word for "cliff") and keep going, trusting that the Shakti won't let me down.
It never does.
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