I am smitten with the inward journey, however deep, dark or radiant it seems to be in the moment. The path before me has been illuminated through years of finding magical spots in nature; walking many many miles. Because of her endless enchantments and eternal peace, I have dedicated the last 25 years or more (I am 40 now), to making the work of communing with nature my work. Mostly this work has entailed a lot of observation and listening. One cold winters night in the middle of a frozen lake in the mountains of upstate New York, I heard a voice so clearly direct me “You must teach the children about me.” It was the clearest most loving female voice, and I heard it as clearly as if she was sitting next to me. Since I heard that voice I have been on a path of understanding what it meant, who the children really are and what did I have to teach them. I have concluded that the children are all of us. This has become my mission and my life’s work.
I have a long way to go on this path, but I also have a lot that I can share from the observations I have gleaned. My work has led me through land based intentional communities, farming, wilderness protection, trail building, childhood environmental education, community outreach around local and planetary food issues, water issues, landscape design (art and architecture), art using nature, expressing nature, ceremonially, dancing nature, and claiming nature within myself in every way I can think. And I have only just begun.
This blog is writing about nature and the concept of nature as our garden; our consciously cultivated intimate experiences with nature where we touch her and participate in her evolution with us, and our evolution with her. It is the garden in our backyards and the garden of the whole planet. The Garden of Yoga is about this concept of garden as a spiritual practice.
The other side of my path involves the cultivation of the practice of Yoga. This practice has accompanied me for nearly 20 years and been a great source of help and healing in my life, and contributed greatly to my understanding of life in general! Its been big! And yet so so small and subtle at times. I have come to see my own practice as a garden too. When I tend to this garden of my mind/body, the evolution of my consciousness grows more single pointedly towards the mission of my life. As I have walked on the path of Yoga, I have seen that our bodies are a blueprint for nature, from stone to star, river to ocean. We are not separate from all that we see before us. Everyday I am still just beginning this journey to magical places within, and without…making my slow steps towards….towards….all that is.
These two practices provide endless fulfillment and ongoing personal growth for me, and they deserve my honor, my attention, my further study, and the “shining forth” of what has so graciously been given to me as yet on the long walk. I am in great gratitude for this earth, all her beauty and bounty, and all the teachers who have come before me to help me to grow, one step at a time, towards the true essence and knowing of who I am.
Namaste,
Akasha
The Garden of Yoga 