Intentions for a Yoga Practice
May what softens my body
Also soften my anger
May the difficulties of my practice
Melt the hardness of my heart
May stumbles and failures
Dissolve my arrogance
And the bondage of perfectionism be undone
May truth be allowed its say
And may I release whatever I have hoarded
May light heal all souls forever.
by caf
©photo and poem by caf
All the World is an Asana
We are petals on a flower practicing our yoga
This body is no longer strong or agile.
Dormancy has become her favorite posture
her light is not free but stored
She craves a change of asana.
Maples awaken in the distance with spring growth of swaying red buds
Birds and bugs fly and wiggle
stream currents flow
all moving beings in their unique
flowing, growing, flying and wiggling asanas.
Rocks still and sturdy in their unperturbed poses
the sun in fiery, shining warrior stance
and the moon in golden silent savasana –
They gaze at us and dream that all the world
has moved into the asana of loving.
by caf
© photo and poem by caf
A Perfect Storm
Once a six month storm tore at her shutters
a hot and turbulent wind
pummeled the untanned hide that sheltered the door of a dark cave
wherein lived one of the world’s most illiterate hearts.
As she allowed the wind to help her dance in the trees
Her toughened pelt became soft as velvet
and as pliable as priceless leather
limp, whipped and limber.
In the aftermath of the thrashing torrent
tears kept her hardness soft
and as she walked in the forest
she saw Bittersweet
strewn on the path under her feet
and she rested with her eyes wide open.
©Carole Fults photo and poem
Sun Salutation
Bending like the body of a Willow
her limbs sweep the ground
and loosely dangle
Till straight up like a Sunflower
she stretches to the sky
caresses the birds and sometimes the clouds
Then, body parallel to ground
she opens and opens
until twisted roots untangle and align with the earth
Fastening her eyes on the horizon
she sees the sky blush as it receives
the first kisses of light
The life of dark time recedes
as lightness returns
revealing secrets hidden, now glowing
in the freshness of dawn.
She feels the sun awaken
as all things stand and bow
as she stands and bows in awe
at the return of grace
and to honor the light that lives within in her own heart.
This is called Sun Salutation.
©Carole Fults
My Life and the Complaining Cow
Lying on my back on my yoga mat
looking for insights on the ceiling
the way astronomers look for stars against the sky
waiting for that one instant when all will become clear.
And when the big solution arrives
there’s no band of angels announcing the coming of the answer
no star in the east, no light in the tunnel, no trumpets or gonging bells, no voice in the darkness
but here come the geese, again, and the complaining cow across the road
here’s the kiss of the fog and whispers in the shadows
here are phone calls from friends and the adoring stares of dogs,
here is unlimited biscotti,
a kiss from my sweetheart
here is my life.
©Carole Fults
Tree Pose
The forest owns her
the ground anchors her
she doesn’t resist.
Her legs and feet
are stumps and logs
welded to her trunk.
Her hair rises to the clouds
that circle her top
and her fingers turn to leaf buds
at the ends of moving branches.
Swaying midst the rhythmic clacking
of greenery dried brown
She begins to hum and move her branches
up and up and up
Rain patters onto the forest floor
and her soles suck it up and feed it
to her shaggy, barky body
as her toes curl into the loamy soil
growing down and down and down
turn to tendrils that root in the earth
and make a home there.
This is called Tree Pose
©Carole Fults
Inside-out Art and Writing 