As we enter the darker period of the year we are fortunate to have this work to help keep us inspired. Here are some options for finding inspiration this month:
- The Divine Light Invocation – Keep the Light Going
When the Divine Light Invocation is practiced with sincerity and diligence we come to accept the reality of the Light within us.
(Divine Light Invocation, Swami Radha, p 27)
Develop a Divine Light Invocation practice for yourself – it is such a full practice there are so many options:
- Choose the number of Divine Light Invocations you want to do daily as well as how long you want to continue this commitment.
- Work with any of the visualizations in the various books: Divine Light Invocation, Living the Practice and others.
- Commit to exploring the various focus points of the practice for 10 minutes a day and do something different each time.
- … or anything that works for you. Be creative, Be realistic, Be Inspired and keep the Light going.
- Devotion
Devotion is simple and demands few words. We just need to let go and make everything we do an offering, with respect, back to the source of life.
(The Inner Life of Asanas, Swami Lalitananda, p 91)
a) Pick something you love to do…
- Walking in nature, going to the opera/play/movie, volunteering in your community, a dance class, spending time with loved ones, decluttering a room…
- Reflect before the activity, Where am I? Observe the experience. Reflect on your experience of devotion. How can everything you do become an offering?
b) Celebrate our Saraswati Lineage…the Arts – dance, painting, collage, cooking, poetry, sculpture, knitting — there are many.
- Say the Divine Mother Prayer and find a way to make your chosen art an offering to Divine Mother.
- Reflect on your experience of devotion: how can everything you do become an offering?
- For those of you who make your own Christmas presents this can be a way to make that into a practice.
- Balancing Input and Output
Hatha Yoga in its various aspects is a means to bring the input/output into balance, and to obtain a new understanding of the body as a tool that can function much beyond the limitations usually determined by our beliefs and attitudes.
(Hatha Yoga: The Hidden Language, Swami Radha, p 31)
- Be inspired by your body. Find your own way of doing that or choose a Hidden Language pose you have not worked with in a while. Avoid getting caught in the trap of the perfect pose.
- Let your body inspire you from where it actually is rather than where your mind wants it to be. Explore the pose and see what you learn. How does your body inspire you?