While I was enjoying my magical weekend at Harmony Festival, I realized what I miss most about living in Ghana...hanging out. Just simply hanging out. It was delightful to be reminded of this feeling while spending the weekend dancing, yoga-ing, parading, laughing, camping, eating, chanting, and lounging with my dear lovebug friends, old and new.
There is an abundance of time in Ghana. Time to relax. Time to chat. Time to eat. Time to enjoy life. Time to fall in love. Time to fall in love again...Life happens in the in between moments. People live close to each other, connected to the earth. There is less space between individuals, both in proximity and spiritually.
I often forget the importance of these basic necessities in our car, office, fast, anxious, rushed, urban, over committed culture. I'm amazed at how easy it is to loose the feeling of relaxation after I return home from a weekend at a festival or a week of teacher training. When I experience a large dose of rasa (essence, flavor, taste, juice of life), it's difficult to incorporate that sensation back into the daily grind. The Pitta energy takes over: alarm clock, BART, cell phone, work, rush, yoga, rush, dinner, rush, bed. The feeling of pure love for life rapidly dissolves in the stream.
My practice for the moment is yoking the two feelings. Relaxation and productivity. Sukam and Sthiram. Steadiness and Lightness. Bringing more festival energy into the office. Practicing yoga in the park during my lunch break. Making room for love in my stacked routine.
It's indescribable what happens in those moments when nothing is happening. I'll attempt to highlight a few from this past weekend:
-camping at a festival for the first time with leah (thank goddess for her!!)
-spending the whole weekend with the kusun ensemble (old friends from ghana)
-parading with team santa cruz (sierra, taj, sally, kevin, cj)
-practicing yoga in the earth temple dome (yes, i just said that and i'm still from boston) with Shiva Rea
-wearing booty shorts with a printed OMM symbol on them
-DANCING ON THE MAIN STAGE WITH ANGELIQUE KIDJO ON SUNDAY NIGHT
-watching suzanne sterling and marla leigh rock out the LA Durga/Kali energy on the goddess stage
-being in the SUN
-eating a pizza chocolate chip shortbread cookie
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2 comments:
That weekend sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing the positivity.
Love your energy and balance (harmony). You can use words like amazing and I go along with it, which is something.
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