Words of the White Tantric Yoga facilitator during the Summer Solstice Celebration have continued to resonate within me since the experience. Eloquently, softly and with immense grace she told hundreds of attendees that, “Yogi Bhajan wanted us to know survival…as well as luxury…” I have since pondered and ‘felt’ this wisdom in many forms.
Checking into Solstice in 100+ degree weather in the high desert of New Mexico was far from a luxurious experience. It was dusty. It was hot. It was really dusty, and it was really really hot. From my first-timer judgmental perspective I also felt it to be a little on the disorganized side as well. Then, putting all of these things together and adding two children under the age of 7 alongside it all, I can certainly say that I quietly questioned my decision to put this trip on the list of ‘summer vacations.’
The experience began, let’s say, a bit rocky. As time continued, however, I allowed my judgmental thinking to slowly evolve and gradually unveiled the layers that clung to the need for predictability, ease, and a desired outcome. I slowly connected the reality that with all experiences, especially new experiences, not all things are going to run smoothly or exactly as anticipated, yet it is how I choose to approach these experiences that makes all the difference. I continued to hear the words of Yogi Bhajan, “Patience Pays” and talk among Solstice attendees, “This is why he chose this area in the desert. Because if we can survive this, if we can work together and ‘Keep Up’ in these elements, we will be able to carry this into our everyday lives.” We had to pace ourselves in the heat. We had to be patient with when the food would arrive, and we had to trust that when we worked together, when we had positive energetic exchanges, we could carry each other. This, we did. Through White Tantric Yoga to slowing our need for luxury, we carried each other through the beautifully moving week of Summer Solstice.
Our experience in the high desert then made itself immediately present in the days following our departure…
My partner, son and I entered ‘Part 2’ of summer vacation directly after Solstice with a flight to a family reunion on Lake Michigan. Believing, for whatever strange reason, that traffic from southern Colorado to DIA in the middle of the summer would somehow be “predictable, easy, and with certain outcome” we found our thought processes challenged once again. Long of it short, we found ourselves tying up our laces when still in the car, shoving any last minute items into the carry-on luggage, and literally running (yes, just like Home Alone), every step of the way…from the parking garage, to and through security, to the very last terminal, to the very last gate. I’m not kidding, the very last, only to find that once we got there the boarding doors had closed…and our flight was delayed by 30 minutes, giving us time to do everything we needed.
My partner and I looked at each other with adoration and exasperation, I leaned over and kissed my trooper of a 7-year old on the top of the head, and we all smiled with grateful exhaustion. Through it all, not once did we get angry with one another. We kindly understood the urgency, nervousness, and anxiety that was below the surface throughout the car ride all the way to the last step in the terminal. There was a trust that whatever the outcome was, it would ‘work out’ in some form or another. Sometimes I relied on my partner, sometimes he relied on me, and all the while my son trust the process. It was beautiful, and it worked out just as the universe intended.
Getting to Michigan was not easy. Getting settled at Solstice was not easy. The outcome, however, was more beautiful than could have ever been predicted, and this lesson will forever be with me.
