My yoga class the other day was exquisite. There was a particular effortlessness to the practice. Arriving at each asana, I felt an increased physical expansion as each breath filled the body more completely. Instantly, the pose lit up. Time stopped and all efforting ceased. I was held, supported by the light in a kind suspended animation. Such joy! My practice became a prayer of gratitude to the Divine, for life, for love, for the beauty of existence!

Then, leaving the yoga studio and reentering the world from this newly expanded place, I noticed all my senses were heightened, and a profound silence enveloped me. My attention was drawn to the trees lining the city street, and to the breeze gently swaying their branches. I was captivated by the moment, feeling Eternity calling me – calling me home to Self, to Oneness, to my divine nature.

You too have probably had glimpses of this Oneness, this peace, especially in nature. It was natural that my awareness was called to the wind and the trees when I left the yoga studio the other day. Nature pulses with this divine light. In truth, we all do, but in nature form is pure and pristine unencumbered by the veils that mask this radiance in us. Outside the buzz and chaotic energy of the city, we are drawn to nature and open spaces because we find solace there, and healing and rejuvenation – because in it we are connected to this Oneness that is our very nature.

Think of that remote spot you love to go to in the mountains or the forest. Ah, fresh air at last! You breath in deeply, relaxing into the scene. The mind becomes quiet and, within the stillness, Divine Presence expresses itself through the forms of the world: The wind’s exhale delicately wafts through the trees, and the leaves respond in a ripple of delight – so effortlessly, so inevitably. So lovely! You can appreciate the experience because a part of you recognizes this Presence. You resonate with it because it is in you. It is you! Breathing in deeply once again, you are drawn more completely into present moment. You relax, perhaps laying back on some grass, and your attention is called upward to powder blue sky, and within this expanse – billowy white cumulus clouds, so soft, so yin – gently moving –  so effortlessly, so inevitably. You are entranced by this shape shifting visual delight! Heart feels full as it opens to the light that is within and that is without. This light is everywhere. It is all there is – light, Divine Presence, the Oneness that we are.