The Universal Heart of Sadness

These past few weeks have been colored by loss, touched by sadness and re-infused with life.  

For a while it seemed like the cycle of life was claiming friends’ parents at an accelerated rate.  While we were saddened by this loss of life, it was a reminder of our shared fate and preview of our age.  Then we lost three friends, all in their forties, and the view shifted.  

In my last post, I was trying to make sense of an old friend’s death.  What I didn’t include in that post was that it was on the heals of hearing about our friend Flavia, who died of cancer a couple weeks before Jon fell at the hand of some undisclosed illness.  

The air had become dense with loss but life continued its relentless march forward.  

Then the wildfire network that is Facebook, revealed the untimely death of another old friend and dear soul.  David Nolan.  David’s sharp mind and huge heart were his calling cards.  He could elevate any discourse with original thought and critical thinking stemming from his open heart.  It is both tragic and poetic that it was a major heart attack that took him too soon from this earth.

So much of Yoga is about opening the heart.  It sounds simple but is deeply profound.  As our time on the mat is limited, so is our time off the mat.  We work to realize our potential in each pose with every breath.  There’s a heightened sense of consciousness on the mat as we’re being guided and encouraged to stretch our limits to the edge.  As our shoulders and hips open we make space for our hearts to follow.  This physical openness reflects a deeper expansion.  

When loss or tragedy hits close to home, it is my heart that bears the burden; I’d rather it be open soft and wide to better balance the weight, than closed tight and resistant unable to feel what’s real.

I am so grateful for Yoga.  It is a real life practice that reflects the challenges of living and teaches how to remain open in hard times.

What I choose to take from this time of crazy loss is to limit regret by not putting things off and minimizing the pool of potential by realizing as much of it as I can.  

Flavia Roncelli.  Jon Crawford.  David Nolan.  

Namaste, my friends!  The light in me, bows to the light in you!