Inspirations: Archives

Lions In The Heat of Summer

In days of darkness, somewhere there is light. When we have lost faith, somehow, reason to hope appears. When we are most cruel, sometimes kindness prevails. A brief news bulletin from the provincial town, Beta Genet, 350 miles outside of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, tells of a twelve year old girl, missing for a week, who’d been taken and beaten by seven men, one of whom wanted to marry her against her wishes. Three lions came and frightened away her attackers, then stood guard over her throughout the afternoon until police and family found her. “They stood guard until we found her,” said Sergeant Wondimu Wedajo, “And then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest.” A gift indeed. A redolent reminder that there are more things in heaven and hell than we shall ever know. When Angels choose to move through us, ‘us’ doesn’t have to mean human. The connection between human and animal is far greater than we acknowledge. Mankind can be so much worse than we wish to know. Redemption can be greater and stranger than before envisioned. Like storytellers of old, sharing this story makes it more alive in me. It calls to what is profound, mysterious, and brave, as well as what is evil. In its re-telling I connect over and over to the magic, alive here on earth, never forgetting how close by darkness waits. Be the lion! Asana: Simhasana/Lion Pose, of course. You can sit with your R foot placed under left buttocks, place L foot under R buttock, or in Padmasana, or kneel. Stretching the back up, extend hands, placing them on the knees, opening fingers wide. Focus gaze at tip of nose, or within to the Third Eyes, in center of forehead. Open your mouth as wide… Read more »

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