Yoga108

Tonight is one of those times when tears are just so close to the surface. Perhaps it is because 57 years ago yesterday I had a near death experience. Things that happen to you change your world view….

Perhaps it is because this morning I got to work with a man, and a woman, and their precious dog. The woman had just stepped backwards into the motor pit on their boat. She began expressing her concern about not wanting to intrude on her husband’s session. We ended knowing you cannot take blessing from someone else by receiving blessing yourself. Even the dog came over to me and asked to receive healing attention! We were all so blessed by our time together as we were in that stream of the ever-perfect.

Perhaps my heart feels so tender because 11 years ago today Nonnie’s beloved Mike passed….

Perhaps tears are close to the surface because the evening sky is breathtakingly beautiful.

Or because I read this precious truth written by Danusha Laméris about how small kindnesses are the ‘true dwelling of the holy’:

I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by. Or how strangers still say, “bless you” when someone sneezes, a leftover from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying. And sometimes when you spill lemons from your grocery bag, someone else will help you pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder, and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass. We have so little of each other, now. So far from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange. What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here, have my seat,” Go ahead—you first,” “I like your hat.”

I like The Giving Hat that belongs to my dear friend, Jane Foster.

Perhaps my heart is so open because Jane was told she had less than a year to live by her surgeon who also said she needed to find a holistic healer. That was almost 20 years ago. Jane now coaches and encourages others to live life regardless of any medical diagnosis. So perhaps my heart is open because today Jane was on the mat beside me doing yoga for the first time!

As I drove back downtown to the office after yoga class, the vehicle at the red light in front of me had this license plate:

I sent the photo of the license plate to Jane and to Kathy, our wonderful yoga teacher. Kathy wrote back that 108 is a very special number. She said, “The number 108 is significant in yoga. It is the number of beads in a mala, and it is the number of sun salutations done daily in India. It is probably significant in other ways, too.”

I wrote back, “Also 108 movements in Tai Chi.”

“Did not know that!” Kathy shot back. “That would be a good blog entry…. I’d read it.”

Lord Buddha’s footprint is imprinted with 108 auspicious illustrations.

In Islam, the number 108 refers to God.

In the Christian Bible, the phrase ‘first born’ is used 108 times. Both ‘in truth’ and ‘to forgive’ are also used 108 times, in the New Revised Standard Version.

In numerology, the number 108 is reduced to 9, but adding all the digits together. Nine represents the earthly lesson of humans, which is ‘forgiveness’.

Nine is about selflessness and compassion.

People with nine energy are said to work without motive.

Nines know their purpose is for the greatest good of all.

Nines also have a protective energy, and they have great power, and great love in their soul.

Today was the birthday of the woman I met with after yoga. I gave her a copy of The Gift: Poems by Hafiz The Great Sufi Master. Her husband passed a few months ago so she is in the process of reinventing her life. She is only 73, not 108, but I am quite sure it would be OK with her if we put 108 candles on her cake and sang happy birthday to her. I had her read the last poem in the book.

AND LOVE SAYS

And love

Says,

“I will. I will take care of you.”

To everything that is

Near.

I also gave her a lovely decorated heart-shaped empty box. My friend, Claudia, learned to set a special box on your nightstand or dressing table, as a reminder that each day is a present and being present is a gift you give to yourself.

108 times today I will say, it is such a privilege to be alive. It is such a joy to be awake.