These ceremonies have imprinted on my body, mind, and soul states of expanded awareness that I can revisit through yoga practice. Every time I release tension on the mat and feel relaxation and flow, I’m touching that state, even if my mind doesn’t fully register it. And so are you.

Later, the sun will set. In between we’ll do things, we’ll think things, things will happen. I think of Shakespeare’s famous quote from the Tempest: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with sleep.”  It is all fragile, dreamlike, temporary. This too, shall pass. Whatever “this" “may be.

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.