Most life events have a beginning, a middle and an end. This morning our deeply connected DCI 2019 cohort completed our 1000 day yoga challenge. This milestone was keenly felt as 17 yogis worked “The Kriya for Morning Sadhana.”

We concluded the class with an additional hour of check-in, Modern Elder Academy (MEA) style, using a talking stick; anything nearby which ranged from a tissue to a coffee cup. Each person shared moments of truthful essence and closed with, “I am complete.”

Some of us are moving into what MEA calls ‘Liminal Space’ – the period of time when one endeavor ends and a stretch of unknowingness begins before a new and creative life force emerges.

Liminal is from the Latin word ‘limen’, which means threshold. Our weekly group-practice bound us together these last 33 months, 38 months including our time on ‘the farm’. I’m already feeling a sense of loss as I cross the threshold. And feelings of loss and regret don’t feel good. My mindset created the hard stop that closed our group practice today. I am now living with the consequence of this choice, this mindset.

Knowing our group depended on me to create and lead a different weekly kriya/sequence gave my life purpose and I deepened my own yoga and mindfulness practice with each passing day. I loved our sense of community and the wellness we shared on so many levels.

I know my calling. I know my purpose at my current age. I want to help others integrate all aspects of being human; to integrate breath, body, mind, emotion, intuition and greater consciousness. We do this on our mat; it is all measurable to the degree each of us is able to “note, observe, and inquire.”

What’s next? My intention: continue to be on my mat everyday at whatever hour I am drawn to be there. I may work parts of a sequence, rather than a full kriya. I plan to practice āsana, prānāyāma, keep my wisdom gate open, observe my mental and emotional states, and most importantly, connect with something larger than my individual self. I may stay on my mat until this moment is recognized.

Perhaps my mat time will occasionally manifest in different forms of mindfulness? A walk in nature. Picking up trash in my neighborhood. Sitting on my mat and listening intently to one specific track of music. Sitting in my own discomfort. Reading something that challenges me. Writing. Journaling.

Perhaps, for those who would like to connect, I’ll invent a new kind of practice? One where we breathe and move and then journal? Or we breathe and move and focus on one specific question throughout the sequence? I intend to search for more obscure Kundalini Yoga kriyas.

I know this is a rich time. I want to be fully present to the moment. Ironically as I write this, I’m isolating after a covid exposure from my brother three days ago. Two more days of solitude to write and be with my feelings – indeed a gift. Some moments are uncomfortable as I make friends with my new companion, liminal space. More to come.

Sat Nam. Rocky – 12/11/2022

Rocky! Your gift of 1000 days of yoga is the most meaningful and long lasting gift I have ever received. I will be forever grateful. – Susan A.