I spend most of my time with the 3 little people the Universe entrusted into my care, and when I allow myself to be totally engrossed in their world I experience adbhuta, which is the Sanskrit word for wonder, curiosity, mystery. Everything is fresh and new and exciting.
Over
the holidays I took them to the holiday train show at the NY Botanic Gardens
and my 16-month old son Rakhi stood by the railing screaming “Wow, train!” like
a teenage girl at a Justin Beiber concert each time the train emerged from the
tunnel to chug past us. He didn’t just do it the first time it happened –
he did it every time for the better part of an hour. (See video clip above!) Most of us as adults have lost this quality of
infinite fascination. We become mired down in the day to day and life can
become tedious and bland.
Imagine
that you could bring that level of awe and excitement to your life – how much
more fun and exciting and rich life would be! I like to run early in the
morning just as the sun is coming up. On clear days, at the moment the
sun breaks over the horizon, without fail, I have a “Wow, train!” moment – I am
filled with awe and wonder at the miracle of the sunrise each day. Holy cow, the Earth spun around it got dark
and it got light and isn’t that amazing! I always stop (or at least slow
down :-) and let myself be filled with the sunlight and my gratitude at being alive
and awake to the beauty of our world. I find that on the days that I get
to start my day this way, I am opened up and throughout the rest of the day I
am can see the beauty and wonder that surrounds me so much more easily and readily. I often snap a sunrise photo like the one below and I keep a collection to help remind me on days when I'm not feeling as awake and aware.
 | |
| A sunrise run |
· The left lung is smaller than
the right to make room for the heart
· Every person has a different
tongue print
· Bones are 4 times stronger
than concrete
· The liver performs more than
500 different functions
· On an average day, we engage
more than 26,000 cycles of breath
· The heart pumps 4,000 gallons
of blood daily
We
are living a wondrous phenomenon simply by being alive! Our yoga practice just helps us notice it and
engage with our own personal miracle in a meaningful way.
When
we open ourselves to being awestruck by the natural world, including our
bodies, we experience the inherent shree
(life-enhancing qualities of the universe) that permeates all of creation,
including ourselves. When you can bring
a child-like sense of wonder to everything you do, it is easy to see the
miraculous in the mundane and life goes from black and white to Technicolor.
Rachel
Carson wrote “If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to
preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each
child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last
throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and
disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things
artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.”
Practicing
adbhuta requires a slowing down. Anyone who has ever taken a walk with a 2
year old knows that it might take an hour to walk the length of your
backyard. But what a rich hour it
is! Bring the “Wow, train!” factor to
your life this week. Become
fascinated with every small part of your being and your world. See with a child’s
eyes, rediscovering awe, wonder, fascination and excitement for yourself and
your world. If you need a small child to
help you, feel free to drop by my house anytime. Or else try these practices to get you
started.
Off the mat:
Start
to notice “coincidences” occurring – a friend calling on the phone just as you
were thinking about them, walking into a yoga class where the teacher seems to
have been inside your brain and hand picked the theme of the class from what
she found there, craving a certain meal and then going to a restaurant and
learning it is on their specials menu that evening. When we choose to
tune into adbhuta these occurrences
happen more frequently – we open ourselves up to them and invite them into our
consciousness.
Go
out into nature – study snowflakes, ice crystals, the bark of a tree, a pattern
of stars in the sky. Eat a salad and
close your eyes so you can really taste the essence of each and every vegetable
you put into your mouth. Let yourself be filled with wonder at the miracles
that surround us all the time.
Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe advises “A man should hear a little music, read a little
poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly
cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in
the human soul.”
On the mat:
Open
To Grace:
Marvel
at the intricacies of your body.
Let
yourself be in awe of the miracle that is your human form.
Let
yourself be awed by the intricacies if your body as it moves.
Muscular
Energy:
Feel
the (approximately) 650 muscles in your body hug the 206 bones.
Engage
your muscles and engage with awe and astonishment.
Side
Body Long:
Expand
your sense of wonder.
As
you make space in your torso by lengthening the sides of your waist, make space
in your life for the miraculous.
Lengthen
the muscles between each rib making room for breath and mystery.
Head
of the Arm Bones Back:
Plug
the head of the arms bones back to plug yourself into the splendor of the Universe.
As
the head of the arm bones move back and the chest opens, open to the
astonishing gifts nature surrounds us with.
Organic
Energy:
Expand
your fascination, radiating it out all the way to unknown galaxies.
