September

The chestnut trees are starting to turn yellow.  The large maple by the crossroad near Shakti is, expectedly, blazing with hues of red and gold.  In time the whole ashram will be transformed – more so than it already is with slanted sunlight edging through the haze from forest fires from afar.  It’s still quite warm but my mind expected fall upon my return and so fall is what I’ve created as I look out into the world.  Warm, yes – as warm as it was in Nevada and California, no.

I’ve entered back into the world of the Ashram.  I didn’t have any particular expectations other than that the colours of the maple would have shifted in the two weeks I was away.  I’ve been happy to enter in and serve in whatever area is needed.  I find myself washing walls and preparing rooms, chopping veggies in the kitchen, and, of course, spending most of my time in my familiar role in the bookstore.  The Fall Harvest Program has been a great success with 10 participants last week joining the four that stayed on from the previous intake day.  Yesterday I co-taught the dream workshop they participated in.  It feels so good to be a part of the teaching team here.  This program is pretty radical in that participants only take part in 5 days of karma yoga and then have a day in a workshop and a reflection day.  What a great way to enter into the Ashram!  My single reflection day last week felt decadent enough after not really having a day all to myself to do absolutely nothing for a very long time.  Well, laundry and nothing.  In that order.

Remnants of my trip emerge and fade as I settle back into the swing of my life here.  I have this rising tension that I’ll be here seven more months or so and want to have everything figured out – some big grandiose plan that sorts my future and my passions completely and all I have to do is step into it with ease upon leaving.  I keep telling myself that’s what *will* happen, I don’t need to think about it now though; it’s over half a year away!   I know that I’m creating exactly the life I want for myself now.  By existing in that life, the only possibility is to continue to do so.  I’ll create exactly the life I want outside of here, too.  And there are, of course, a multitude of layers, an interplay of forces you might say, which makes life all the sweeter.

For now I revel in playing melodies in the temple, organizing the bookstore and office, and doing karma yoga around the Ashram wherever it’s needed.