The Rose,from "Women in Praise of the Sacred"

The treasure at the heart of the rose

is your own heart's treasure.

Scatter it as the rose does;

your pain becomes hers to measure.

Scatter it in a song,

or in one great love's desire.

Do not resist the rose

lest you burn in its fire.

~Gabriela Mistral

"In ancient dark times yoga flourished

as the means by which ordinary folk

absorb the nuturing force of Life.

Yoga is strength receiving,

the male surrender to the feminine".

~Mark Whitwell

Sri Yantra depicts the fundamental feeling of

the upward- moving strength of our own life

merging with the downward, receptive quality from above.

Without any action we can contimplate and feel

this movement and relationships of Life.

Sri Yantra is therefore very worthy of this relaxed attention,

particularly before and after asana and pranayama

You do not have to walk on your knees

For a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

Love what it loves.

Mary Oliver,

from "Wild Geese"