Have the beehives of my dreams stopped working, the waterwheel

of the mind run dry, scoops turning empty,

only shadow inside?

No, my heart is not asleep.  It is awake, wide awake.

Not asleep, not dreaming - its eyes are opened wide

watching distant signals, listening on the rim

of vast silence.

- Antonio Machado

We shape clay into a pot.  But it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.        -Tao Te Ching #11

like this space / how an empty room / without furniture / No pictures hanging on the wall / bare wood floor and draped windows

How an empty room / can hold so much

the modern temple / more than just a bare room / in a strip mall / but a room whose emptiness / holds such vast worlds / that we, 10 years later / have ripened and  bloomed / within this clean and unstructured space / and from it / formed a temple.

not a temple in a religious sense / for we are a varied tapestry of difference / our kula hails from all over the world / different cultures, countries, religions, perspectives. / what we share is the reverence for health and discovery / you could even say radical self discovery. / our bodies become the moving temples within the light of this reverence / daily painting vibrant worlds and stories invisibly upon the walls / each practice, a new mural of moving meditation.

the one image that moves its light across the walls / that is visible only in certain light and times of day / the embodied heart logo on the frosted door. / the heart is central, linking open brush-stroke legs /and DNA helix twisting arms joined in a pryer overhead / but notice, at the bottom, the heart is OPEN / allowing an entry to the empty and inviting space within / the head is also open:  its entry directly above the heart / the body the temple, the heart the open center of the temple / the heart the central point we all share in this empty yet vibrant temple space / of yoga del mar.

here we are given space / to be with ourselves and others / to be held and nurtured within the clean open space / to enter, and to leave no physical trace / of our comings or goings / except written in the fibers of our bodies / the halls of the mind and the movement of touch across our hearts. / the empty space that holds so much / for friendships, epiphanies, griefs, losses, gains, and celebrations. / the emptiness birthing forth a space for exquisite contemplations / realizations, peacefulness, and resolutions.

and to the woman who has maintained this space / through her efforts and wide open heart / always guiding her head / blessings / for creating a space of longevity that lasts.

The bell is hollow / so the sound may ring it.

This room is empty / so our hearts might fill it.

          - nikyta palmisani

           (written for, and read at, the Yoga Del Mar 10 year anniversary celebration / Sept. 20, 2009)