Kindling hope

I am starting to feel a slight warmth in my heart again. It is a comfort, a small illumination from my inner self. After time in the wilderness where I have felt nothing but fatigue, compassion worn too thin, energies depleted and my patience and temper frayed, this small glow within brings me feelings of gratitude. And hope of future peace and ease.

Metaphors of light and warmth are compelling. They extend beyond the fundamentals of comfort and safety into metaphysical illumination and enlightenment. The darkness is full of fear and uncertainty, dangers unseen; the light is a clear radiance in which to soften, open, and perhaps ultimately dissolve.

I had been thinking recently about the heat of tapas and what this means in my yoga. Right now tapas for me is less about ardent, fiery practice or passionate, burning commitment — and more about the patient kindling of an unsteady flame within.

Yoga teaches me patience. As often as I need to hear the lesson.

One day I might blaze with an effulgent intensity. Today I’m grateful to realise the seed of fire never died, it just needed some oxygen and space to rekindle itself gently.

And so I continue my practice. And it feels different. I am a beginner all over again, and gratefully so.

I am reminded of this lovely, simple poem about new starts:

New Every Morning

Every day is a fresh beginning,
Listen my soul to the glad refrain.
And, spite of old sorrows
And older sinning,
Troubles forecasted
And possible pain,
Take heart with the day and begin again.

Susan Coolidge

I hope you find some refreshing light in your day today. xx