leela: world water day

Today is "World Water Day" and in the yoga classes I taught this morning I facilitated 'water blessings'. I spoke of Dr. Emoto's work of how sound vibration can change the structure of water. I brought photos of before and after images of water that had been exposed to harmonious or discordant sound. The harmonious sound created beautiful snowflake type images while the unpleasant sounds didn't create patterns at all.

I reflected on the idea that if our body (approximately 70% water) was exposed to harmonious sound, would this not happen to the atomic structure of our inner water? And what about Mama Earth's water (also approximately 70%) - could we not also transform our the structure of our earth's water with harmonious sound? I wondered about the sacred Ganges River that is said to be polluted, but continues to heal people and not make them sick. Is it because the river continously receives blessings and prayers from the people that visit it, continuously???

And so for the 'water blessing' today, I created an altar with a large glass bowl of water and it was our intention that as we chanted the mantra for peace, "Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi," it would be received by the water within the bowl, the water within our bodies, and the water of our great body, Mama Earth.

After teaching, en-route to care-take my elderly father and visit my mother in a nursing home in the northland today, I was struck once again by the beauty of the Skagit Valley. Spring has arrived and the grasses and budding leaves were a luscious translucent green in the sun that looked like stained glass...

I was drawn to pull over with no particular destination in mind other than to dance SOMEWHERE amongst the verdant beauty. Not far from the fast pace of the highway, it was a joy to come across a quiet street overlooking the valley. Not knowing where the dance would take me, I bared my feet, grabbed the pure woolen blanket I had just received from my beloved (made by women in Afghanistan) and began...

I first felt moved to be wrapped in a shawl that was hand-woven and felt awe and gratitude to the woman who made it must have been paid very little as he bought it at the market for $30. Then I was feeling deeply connected to the millions of women and children in Africa and Asia who walk on average 3.7 miles for water. I was also feeling the challenges of the 1 in 8 people on our planet who do not have a safe drinking water source.

At one point the wind picked up and I felt the water element within me come alive, feeling like water swirling in a river, or the water droplets in the clouds overhead, wanting to move freely... I was feeling so happy to have spirit wind to dance with!

The beauty of this verdant valley, the river below me, and the dew on the individual grasses like precious jewels of life giving nectar blew me away with a surge of gratitude for the abundance of clean water we have in the Pacific North West....

After filming this dance , as I drove another 100 feet, I was taken aback to saw a spigot coming out of the embankment I was dancing upon, spewing water like a waterfall... such a beautiful symbol of our abundant source of water, source of life here in the PNW - water gushing from the side of the embankment...