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)