You've got to be narrow in order to get wide

Here I am in Zion National Park in the Narrows....completely wet from the waist down. Hiking in water is my favorite thing in the whole world, except for doing & teaching Kundalini Yoga and maybe skiing...and maybe lake swimming. But this place was amazing for its natural beauty and scale. I had never been to Utah before and I noticed that, on the whole, Utah is very "diagonal" the way that you would say Arizona is "horizontal". The colors are all warm pink and red and ochre and dusty and golden. You absolutely cannot say this place is not gorgeous. NO way. It looks like the glow from piece of gold. Then in the narrows, the rocks are wet and they reflect the blue sky so there are streaks of bright blue against the warm pinks and ochres on the rocks and you could just keel over from the natural beauty.

I went with Elena (who took this great picture and many others) and my dear friend Lynn who came all the way from New York to visit. We were on our way to teachers training in Utah at our friend Melanie's yoga studio, Sage Hills Yoga in Cedar City. It was her birthday on the 29th and we went to be part of the celebration....and to take yoga with our favorite teachers, Harijiwan, Tej, and Erin. It turned out to be a very memorable weekend. But back to the narrows...

There is something very transcendental about hiking in water on the rocks; keeping your balance and your feet securely planted while the water is rushing against you and then being overwhelmed by the vastness of the space and the beauty of nature. The sounds, the temperature, the presence in your own body...these are all contributing to the profound experience of oneness with universal consciousness, energy, God, whatever you want to call it. You feel completely part of the whole energetic whole and so humbled and so alive. Last year at Yogi Bhajan's birthday meditation, (2.5 hours of long Ek Ong Kars), I got a message from "headquarters" which was "You've got to be Narrow in order to get Wide". One must consolidate the energy into a one-pointed force and this opens up the horizons for expansion...or at least this was what it meant to me. And when I was in the Narrows, as the watery path led to smaller and smaller spaces in which to hike, I was reminded of how progressively more expansive my experience became.

I haven't written in a while, but I think I'll pick up the proverbial pen again.