Not being an actress, model or wannabe of any kind, I don’t think my eye pillow would mind if I tell you it is old. Fortunately, its dark purple color camouflages nine years of eyeliner residue. (Yes, I’m one of those girls who wears makeup to Yoga). And nine years, is by the way, like 108 in eye pillow years!
My pillow and I have been through thousands of savasana (final relaxation) together. Just the other day, as I was arranging it into its pre-class ready position, the purple silk cover separated and out peeked a red cotton inner lining with white hearts! What?! How had I missed this? And why was I seeing it now? It was clearly a sign. But of what?
Maybe I should be looking for things in my life that were like dirty silk eye pillow sheaths, obscuring the bright heart underneath: the ego-filled yuck around pure-hearted stuff. Or maybe the hearts themselves were the sign.
Heart signs come my way a lot: a heart-shaped stone randomly picked up in Sedona at sunset; a heart that emerged on a hunk of lapidalite, a crystal I’d been given by a psychic; or a heart-shaped engraving that mysteriously appeared in my concrete floor. Hearts appear as messages to me like the Madonna appears to some Christians.
When I receive these heart signs I have the same response: “If only I could figure out what it means.” OK, stop the mind chatter and listen to your heart! And then I have to think about that for a while. No wonder I need an eye pillow to help me relax in savasana!
In this case I had a hunch that the message was about hunching! I’ve been at my computer a lot, shoulders rounding, shrouding my heart energy. I catch myself slouching dozens of times a day. In yoga class, I find myself not just un-hunching but over-compensating. Back and forth: hunching, over-arching. Hunching, over-arching. I’m trying to break the habit. We all know what Yoda says about trying: “Do. Not try. Do.” Yes, trying can be very trying.
One night there was a guy with a telescope parked outside the library.
“Wanna see Saturn?” he asked.
Some people said no and he seemed hurt. If you can make someone happy by agreeing to look at a planet through their telescope, my policy is: say yes. In fact my policy is say yes whenever possible, and sometimes when it’s not. Another reason I need an eye pillow in savasana!
“Sure,” I said not expecting much and still thinking about what I could eat for dinner that would be less than three hundred calories.
I leaned in to the telescope lens, squinted, peered and…oh my God! All thoughts of calorie-counting disappeared. There was Saturn, glowing and bright and ringed. Eye-opening. Despite all the pictures I’ve seen of it. Wow. One key to happiness is having your expectations exceeded!
That’s the beauty of my yoga mat; it’s a kind of telescope. Everything that happens on it is magnified, easier to see.
I looked up at the sky. Mr. Telescope pointed out which pinpoint of light corresponded with the planet I had just seen, detailing
how it would be aligned for the rest of the season.
As it happens, planetary alignment is something I’m currently tracking. According to the experts, we’re headed for Galactic Alignment, which is, if you haven’t been following it, a term for Earth, Sun and the Galactic Center all lining up. Apparently, Galactic
Alignment began in 1987, with the Harmonic Convergence, and it will culminate in 2012. You know, the year the Mayan and Vedic calendars end? The year that will come after 2011 but not necessarily before 2013?!
That used to scare me. But I am happy to report that I have gotten rid of the dirty silk sheath of fear about the world ending in 2012 and am now a non-catastrophist, open and available to the universe to help with The Transition. One thing that helped was learning that this alignment is partly responsible for the current evolution of the human species into a new species called Homo luminous!
Wow! The idea of being a light body, instead of just staring up into the sky at light bodies? I like it.
Back on my mat I realized that I’d been assiduously working on my physical alignment, but not connecting my personal body alignment with the alignment of the cosmic bodies. That’s the beauty of my yoga mat; it’s a kind of telescope. Everything that happens on it is magnified, easier to see. Which is disturbing, considering how hard it is to see things even there.
Once I made the cosmic and body alignment connection, I got the feeling that my root chakra (energy center) was the Earth, my heart was the sun, my mind the galactic center. The struggle to align slipped away. Alignment? Alightment! I felt each person in class was a galaxy in the universe of the class, each yoga class a universe in the multi-verse of yoga, yoga a multi-verse in the omni-verse of everythingness. Everythingness a drop in the bucket of nothingness! My heart did feel lighter, more open, loving.
As I put the eye pillow on my overworked eyes, I realized that ‘heart’ is an anagram for Earth. And as I lay in savasana, I felt I could surrender not just to the gravity of Earth but to the lightness of my heart. These two things were part of the same thing: one, a dot of light, one a much more detailed picture.
Of course the fact that these hearts were so close to my eyes for nine years without me seeing them could also have been a sign that I’m an idiot who can’t see what is right in front of my eyes! I’ll have to take a look at that.
Beth Lapides is currently touring her show 100% Happy 88% of the Time and teaching The Comedian’s Way workshops. Find out how to bring her to you or order a My Other Car is a Yoga Mat license plate holder at: bethlapides.com.
By Beth Lapides
Dr. Lorin Roche began practicing with the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra in 1968 as part of scientific research on the physiology of meditation. He has a PhD from the University of California at Irvine, where his research focused on the language meditators generate to describe their inner experiences. He is the author of The Radiance Sutras and Meditation Made Easy. With his wife, Camille Maurine, he wrote Meditation Secrets for Women. A teacher of meditation for 46 years, Lorin’s approach centers on how to customize the practices to suit one’s individual nature. Lorin leads the Radiance Sutras Meditation Teacher Training, a 200 hour certification program registered with Yoga Alliance. Lorin teaches regularly at the Esalen Institute and around the world.