Bom Dia! A good friend of ours David Pott sent us this poem this morning by the 13th century mystic Sufi poet Hafiz, and I couldn't resist sharing it on the blog.
Tired of Speaking Sweetly
Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
Break all our teacup talk of God.
If you had the courage and
Could give the Beloved His choice, some nights,
He would just drag you around the room
Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world
By your hair,
That bring you no joy.
Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly
All your erroneous notions of truth
That make you fight within yourself, dear one,
And wants to rip to shreds
And with others,
Causing the world to weep
On too many fine days.
God wants to manhandle us,
And practice His dropkick.
Lock us inside of a tiny room with Himself
The Beloved sometimes wants
To do us a great favor:
Hold us upside down And shake all the nonsense out.
He is in such a “playful drunken mood”
Quickly packs their bags and hightails it
But when we hear
Most everyone I know
Out of town.
~ Hafiz ~
The Gift – versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky
We've been revelling in the
retreats so far this year. So wonderful to have guests animating the landscape once again. It's such a joyous thing to watch people relax into their week, with themselves and with other people around them. If you've been here you'll know exactly what I mean.
After a few days of daily yoga practice, morning meditation walks through the
forest, dips in the natural river pools, good food, clean spring water to drink and bathe in, and most importantly of all, some massage and acupuncture from
Vonetta, the months of stress and tension that often lead people to come on retreat, begins to melt away.
You see it on the face first of all. I really should take before and after photos of everyone so you can see what that looks like. "Angel faces" is how our last week's group aptly described the phenomenon. When the tension that builds up in the small muscles of the face disappears, it's like seeing a brand
new version of someone.
A special thanks also to our Karma Yogi volunteers this year. Lou from the UK, Maria from Germany and our dear friend and yoga teacher Sara from Oleiros were so helpful in getting us started for the year. Thanks for your patience in the chaos of set up. Much appreciated. :)
This month we have the delightful Petra & Sophia from Holland and Dylan from south Australia. All the volunteers have worked incredibly hard to enable the retreats to run smoothly and with a lot of fun too. You guys are stars. It's been an absolute pleasure to have you on the team. You've set the bar high for the teams that follow!
Our friend Tashi Dawa flew in for a fortnight of retreats in April and as always lifted our spirits with her loveliness. So sad to see her leave but we wish her all the best in her retreats in Italy and France this year with Kaliyoga.
That's all for now, just wanted to share Hafiz's poem with you today as I loved the idea of the divine playfully turning us upside down now and again.
Saude, Paz e Amor
Memphis
