This past weekend, we gathered for Yoga Garden’s closing ceremony. There was music, laughter, tears, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude. More than anything, I felt thankful that we had the chance to pause together and fully witness the ending of something meaningful.

And perhaps that is what ritual offers us at its best: not a way to hold onto things forever, but a way to pay attention while they are here.

I thought a lot about the hundreds of smaller accomplishments that are wrapped up inside the bow of a college degree. Classes attended, papers written, exams taken, projects completed. Planning the course of study. Making decisions. Moving in. Moving out. Earning money to pay for it. And on, and on, and on and on.

To graduate from college, you have to choose yourself—again and again. And again. More precisely, you choose your future self, in a thousand small and significant ways.

In the spiritual teachings of Yoga – as in many traditions- death is not the end but a shedding of the body. Here’s an overly simplistic summary: The Yogic view of the soul is that we are all one connected spirit or soul, called Brahman. We have individualized, localized versions of the soul, called Atman. Atman expresses itself as “Lexie” or “Meadow” but that is not who we really are. It is like an Avatar we use during our embodied time(s). Who we really are, is timeless, formless, and Divine. So shedding the body? Not a tragedy, especially if, during this life, we have come to really understand and connect with Brahman.