I HAVE A YOGA DREAM

 

 


(With a deep bow to Martin Luther King)


I have a yoga dream that is deeply rooted in the yoga tradition,
That all yogis will become ambassadors of sanity and clarity.
That they will actually live the profound words they say so freely,
That they will do the inner work that it takes to become vehicles of light and inspiration.

I have a yoga dream that all yogis will wholeheartedly commit to the practice of meditation,
And teach it to their children, and, like a great wave, the wisdom of deep insight,
Will wash this planet free of war, suffering, greed, and ignorance, and forevermore,
We will see only the light in each other.

I have a yoga dream that the yoga communities of all traditions combine to show the world
A way to live that honors all varieties of practice, how each uplifts the human spirit, and
That we, as yoga practitioners, become models of a radical shift in kindness, cooperation, and inspiration.

I have a yoga dream that one day everyone on the planet will have a practice,
That will connect them on a daily basis with the One Heart we all share,
That this practice will convince every human alive that their bodies are sacred,

Beautiful, and extraordinary, that their minds are the result of eons of evolutionary effort,

Which has resulted in the opportunity for unlimited intelligence, creativity, and delight.


I have a yoga dream that, through our collective investigation of this miracle of existence,
We find freedom from smallness, bitterness, weakness, cruelty, thinking so little of ourselves,
And that from this inner stance of the great unbounded freedom of each individual soul,
We all abide at last and eternally in everyday ecstasy and wild delight.

(Poem: Denise Benitez)