The Dance of Opening

Life-changing events aren’t always monumentous, boisterous, or catastrophic. Sometimes they are subtle, silent, and a matter of timing.

The other day I was sitting next to a koi pond at the Self-Realization Fellowship International Headquarters. I closed my eyes for a moment, to better take in the sound of bird songs mingled with distant traffic, the scent of the nearby pines, and the peaceful play of the water falling into the pond.

I opened my eyes and noticed that a single petal of an iris bud was reaching out. As I was admiring shape of the petal, and the pattern of the yellow markings, something amazing happened. Very slowly, the rest of the petals opened, ever so slightly. My had flew up to my mouth in shocked awe of the best kind. When I was a kid, one of my favourite things was watching timelapse movies of flowers blooming, and here I was, witnessing a flower opening itself up to the world, right in front of me!

I became so attuned to that single flower that everything else fell away. The petals were performing a blossom butoh- slowly pulsing slightly opened and closed. If I hadn’t been paying attention I wouldn’t have noticed. Each dance open a little further out, and each dance in a little less closed.

There was no breeze. I then saw that before each movement outwards, the stem of the plant did a slight undulation. rising up to the flower to give it momentum to open a little more.

The whole while, I sat there with silent tears making their way down my cheeks. My whole being was filled with wonder and connection to creation. And I thought what an apt metaphor the opening of a flower is to one’s own journey of growth- unfolding to reveal the beauty that’s hidden within.

When the flower’s dance had slowed to the point I could no longer perceive it, I stood up, bent over close to it, whispered “thank you” and walked through the rest of the grounds, pausing now and then to witness the slight movement of leaves and fronds.

I walked out the gates a different person than I was walking in- maybe myself a little more open. I saw it as a sign to have find the courage to unfold, and reveal the beauty hidden inside.

I invite you in the coming days to make time to sit and witness more intimately the world around you. The songs of birds. Shapes of clouds. The pulse of life around you. What subtle moment might transport you into a new way of being?