Every week I find myself with about 45 minutes to kill between yoga clients on West 18th Street above Union Square. Rather than another 5 buck latte I usually take refuge in ABC Carpet & Home. Each time I enter that bohemian rhapsody of pricey treasure for the home I feel safe. Flights of fancy start to whirl through my mind and heart and I am recharged by beauty. (Plus I know where the closest clean, little trafficked men’s room is and that’s a rare commodity in downtown NYC.)
On a recent visit I saw wildly vibrant rugs made from recycled sari silk. Each one made me long to climb on top and lift off for a magic carpet ride. Especially this one ~
One of the favorite teachings I’ve revisited quite a bit recently goes, “The world is as you are. And the worlds of yoga are astonishing.” It has been quite wondrous indeed to take this image above and infuse it into my own morning meditation routine, which had honestly been a bit dried out of late. Drawing this piece of beauty in, imagining myself perched atop it, my morning mantra practice suddenly took on a visual vibrancy that was like a Technicolor whirlwind. I started to reveal to myself a colorful, visual power inside some mantra practices I had already been sitting with for years. That power had surely always been there, but I hadn’t yet tapped into this particular way of receiving it. I wonder what more is there too? For me, meditation is always an endeavor to create and hold my own receptive capacities – for the sake of savoring the gift of life. Gathering artistic inspiration from our outer world we can, like honeybees, take that nectar, that value, into the hive of our hearts. And there, process it into honey. And a spoonful of honey sure makes the medicine go down, in the most delightful ways.
Eric Stoneberg 