Poem: I Go To A Shala

"I go to a shala to stand on one leg, plant inside winter's darker heart..." Listen to the author read her poem about practicing yoga. She uses natural imagery to explore how moving on a mat invites us to consider our physical, spiritual and emotional experience. (A shala is a school of yoga.)

Transcript

I go to a shala.

I go to a shala to stand on one leg,

Plant inside winter's darker heart.

I go to a shala to be for the sun,

Rise and fall with the burble of being.

Floorboards creak,

A radiator clanks,

We gaze at the steadily falling snow.

Balance our desire,

Stalk to sunflower's eye,

Black light in summer's bay.

How to divine this wobbling?

What is before and beyond inherited traits?

I go to flow in unknown straits,

Flip and twist until we come ashore.

To raise our necks,

Listen to what we need to say.

Then lie down and die for a while.