Party With the Earth

Today is the winter Solstice, and I sat in the sun briefly, lapping it up, worshiping it for five glorious minutes; needing it. It has already snowed here, and iced, and been unseasonably cold so that the snow has remained, fixed and glossy, coating things, making roads and sidewalks dangerous. We move cautiously, gingerly, manuevering with forethought. I slipped down to my car one night, bent my knees and surfed on a dark icy road, thankful for my balance. I have moved from clogs to snow boots, sacrificing style for practicality, and am thankful for my snow tires. There is an austere, necessary sense of survival living here in the Northeast; there is warming up the car before going out, there are puffs of breath, grumpy bouts of shovelling out tires, and gloves, and fogging glasses. The sun is far away, and I strive to get up earlier to have more day in my life, more light in my days.

To celebrate the Solstice, I gathered with other yoga practitioners to do 108 sun salutations, Surya (sun) Namaskara (salute), a series of movements coordinated with breath. There are many reasons for the Hindu and Buddhist belief in the sacredness of the number 108. Originally there were 54 sounds in the Sanskrit alphabet. Double 54 and you get 108, which is also the number of beads in the mala (meditation prayer beads). There are 108 Upanishads, the sacred Vedic texts. 108 is also 9 times 12, two propitious numbers in Indian culture. Every ten repetitions a chime was rung by one the two people leading us, switching off to show us different variations. For the first few of each variation they spoke, but then there was no talking, and the sound was breath, Ujayii (meaning victory) breath, droning music, and then more breath, the sound of mine mingling with others, a breath which mimics the ocean. When I wanted to stop moving, I was heartened by those around me, and I kept going, feeling sore, and tired, feeling tendons and muscles shifting, feeling ny bones. Sometimes, weary, we’d rest in child’s pose, but then we kept standing up, trying some more, sweating, laboring in physical ways as metaphor for how we want to lead our lives off of the mat. We practiced gratitude for returning sun, for turning the corner into longer days, this the shortest day of our calender year. I thought, cultivate devotion. I thought it again and again as repetition took me to another place, a different place, a bigger place, outside of daily fluctuations, above the grind of tasks, into the sun, into the mystery of seasons, and orbiting earth, and all things connected, and in flux.

In showing up at the front of the mat, time after time, Chaturanga, Urdva Muhka Svanasana, Adho Muhka Svanasana, Sanskrit terms floating through my brain; we are cultivating Tapas, the sanskrit word for disclipline, literally translating as *heat*. Enough heat can turn stone to steel, make tools, turn glass to vessels, clay to pots, turn solid to liquid, affect change. With heat, discipline, and repetition, we transform, transmute, and metamorphose- we take our bodies, get on our mats and place our hands in prayer position at our heart 108 times to honor the sun which gives us life. Without sun, we have nothing, and with it we have tides, food, life, heat, night, contrast, sparkle, shadows. If we do not know if there is God, and do not know what to do with another commercially driven Christmas holiday, jostling in and out of malls to shmaltzy musack with bags full of books and clothes, and electronics, if we wonder what we are doing in this country, in these politics, in this war and enmeshed in tradition and ritual, driving around with grand, cut-down firs and spruces to display in our homes, then let us come back to the sun. Let us party with the earth, place our faces in the light, look long at ruddy sunsets, streaking purple at dusk, and let us cultivate a sense of gratitude for the our tilting, resilient planet; beathing, moving, sweating, doing the best we can, and not giving up.


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Chant to accompany Surya Namaskar

Om Hram Mitraaya Namah Salutations to Mitra, the bestower of universal friendship

Om Hrim Ravaye Namah Salutations to Ravi, the bestower of radiance

Om Hrum Suryaaya Namah Salutations to Surya, the dispeller of darkness

Om Hraim Bhaanave Namah Salutations to Bhaanu, the shining principle

Om Hraum Khagaaya Namah Salutations to Khaga, the all-pervading

Om Hraha Pushne Namah Salutations to Pushan, the mystic fire

Om Hram Hiranyagarbhaaya Namah Salutations to Hiranyagarbha, the golden colored one (who brings healing)

Om Hrim Marichaye Namah Salutations to Marichi, the light

Om Hrum Aadityaya Namah Salutations to Aaditya (an aspect of Vishnu)

Om Hraim Savitre Namah Salutations to Savita (Savitri) the impeller

Om Hraum Arkaaya Namah Salutations to Arka, the remover of afflictions

Om Hraha Bhaaskaraaya Namah Salutations to Bhaskara, the cosmic brilliance