My Harmonium and Me

When love first tasted the lips of being human it started singing.
~ Rumi

If you have come in contact with me in the last three months chances are I have talked to you about my Harmonium.  I have a knack for working it into most conversations. It is entirely plausible that  I have even bored you with a picture or two.

Last fall, I was feeling very uninspired by my practice. For several months it was as though my practice was completely void of joy. I was literally slogging through it. Forcing myself daily to make it to my mat.

In November, when I taught my annual retreat I decided to shift its normal curriculum to include a workshop at a local studio. I really enjoy Rachel Nixon’s classes and I knew her focus on Bhakti (the yoga of devotion) would be right up my students alley –  especially as they all love to chant.

At the workshop, Rachel played a harmonium that she had recently purchased.  She was a novice but she accompanied us during multiple chanting practices and she did it well.  I left that workshop so inspired. I left WANTING A HARMONIUM.

harmoniumI can now play the scales. Chords are coming. Songs will soon follow.  Adding the harmonium into my practice – and broadening my practice to accommodate it – has been so rewarding.

I now undertake to do my practice joyfully!

 How are you feeling about your practice? Are you inspired? Or are you in a rut?