march 18, 2012

this is a picture of swami sivananda radha - the most insightful yoga teacher i've encountered in my life so far. she would have been 101 years old this week and, tonight, i got together with a bunch of people from my yoga centre to celebrate her. before i go any further, i should tell you that, when i say yoga teacher, i don't mean a svelte, soft-spoken teacher of drop-in classes at a studio down the street. i mean the leader and founder of the lineage that i follow.

some people call her their guru, but i don't use that term. it's partly because the meaning of the word has been tainted by dabblers looking for salvation without having to do any work, and partly because she never taught me directly before she died in 1995. don't get me wrong: i've benefited tremendously from her wisdom, but that's been in the form of her books, videos, recorded lectures and also being taught by teachers who were taught by her. maybe it's a matter of semantics, though, because, directly or indirectly, she has changed me. she's changed my thinking, my assumptions and my mental and emotional habits. she has also really inspired me.

simple things can be so healing: breath, silence, space, openness, compassion. i think, when it comes down to it, healing is about gaining the ability to change perspective; using tools that help you to change something. one of the most amazing tools that my teacher has given me over the years is something called the divine light invocation. it's a standing meditation on light that takes about five minutes, and it's pretty much the best mood reset button i've ever encountered. i've found that it helps me the most when i need a shift in perspective, but i don't know where to start. it's like i can feel it mending the tiny cuts and tears in my heart. i relax into the light, which helps me breathe and think. magic!

i'm going to share a video of it with you tonight, in honour of my teacher, and in the hopes it might give you some relief from whatever you might be struggling with. the meditation starts at 3:17. the woman leading the divine light invocation in the video is swami lalitananda. she was a disciple of swami radha's and was her personal caregiver in the months leading up to her death. they were very close.

if you end up trying this exercise, let me know what your experience is like :)