Yoga Class

Sunset views of Pomona Valley from Mt Baldy foothills (where I come from) California -- December 1977 -- photo by Mark Weber

Sunset views of Pomona Valley from Mt Baldy foothills (where I come from) California — December 1977 — photo by Mark Weber

YOGA CLASS

When was it
in our history
we realized
that
we were made of “star stuff”

rather than merely dissolving into nothingness
in whatever grave our corporeal body finds itself
someday in eternity?

Well, no sudden moves, I always say (to
myself) in yoga class

If you’re exerting yourself then you’re doing
something wrong

Remember how many years it was
for the moon to be pushed back by
the tidal surge . . .

(Neil deGrasse says that the moon, at one time,
was right out our back door)

Cross your eyes — become Third Eye

Pratyahara — go inside to go outside, way outside

The crux being: it is positively psychedelic
to wonder
where
you’ve been all these years since the Big Bang —-

mostly, I suppose, your atoms
have stuck around Earth these past 4.54 billion years
harnessed by gravity
although, those fingernails you got
look like they might have arrived on a meteor
somewhere back in the Paleocene —–

And the 8-plus billion years before that?

Maybe it’s even wilder still, and
we have yet to realize
that
as we fly through space
orbiting within an expanding universe
space matter is passing through us —-
Maybe it is consciousness itself
in little bits of matter smaller than atoms?

Utkatasana
Surya Namaskar
Virabhadrasana
Parivrtta Parsvakonasana
Padmasana

18mar14

Southern California wildflower ---- December 1977 --- photo by Mark Weber

Southern California wildflower —- December 1977 — photo by Mark Weber

13 Comments

  1. richard tabnik

    Om,
    Om,
    I’m deranged…

  2. richard tabnik

    my comment is awaiting
    moderation…

    and so am i….

  3. judy

    Nice. The bits of prana we invite into the spaces we create in our practice (Life).
    Namaste,
    Judy

  4. CC SniderBryan

    nice ruminating! caught the joke – no sudden moves – and yes, it is all good stuff to be learning. this is what my life is like teaching at the Nat Hist Muse – constant amazement from our natural world.

  5. Joan Jobe Smith

    mark… o’wow… cd this possibly be your best poem ever written?
    the back of my neck, where stuff smaller than atoms stand still,
    shivers with crackling stars..
    love those photos.. you were just a baby boy in 1977!… loveduv.. joan

  6. Daisy

    I agree with Joan… wonderful poem. Thanks for putting it out there.
    Daisy

  7. Scott Virtue

    Thank you Mark.How is your Yoga Practice affecting your Jazz?

  8. Supriti

    Tears welled in my eyes as I finished reading your words.
    Not bad for a boy from Cucamonga~ It’s all that howling at the moon you’ve done….

  9. ronald baatz

    another gem…you’re starting to scare me…

  10. Mark Weber

    THREE THINGS
    1) My teacher Supriti is making reference to my radio show of March 20 when we (Cal Haines & I ) celebrated the life of saxophonist Med Flory who got away from us on the same date — March 12 — as Charlie Parker, coincidently enough —– and on the show I played a telephone conversation w/ Med where he was on a jag to get me to howl at the moon, and somewhere in that conversation I revealed that I grew up in Cucamonga

    2) the poem makes reference to the Carl Sagan television program COSMOS as well as the new version with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson as host

    3)
    I purposefully avoided talking about neutrinos, for now

  11. Riha

    Nutrinos and Bubalinos…and salutes to the sun (and moon).
    XXX

  12. Connie Crothers

    I love this poem. The subject flows through my mind continuously. I love the photo.

  13. Connie Crothers

    Only slightly off the subject (or on the subject, depending on your spin) —
    Per Einstein, and others since, there is no arrow of time, a false construct of the human mind.
    That given poses questions: Are we born? Do we die?

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

© 2024 Mark Weber

Theme by Anders Noren adapted for M.etropolis by RavanHUp ↑