I spent the morning practicing vipassana meditation at the Turrell skyspace at the Henry Art Gallery. The installation is called "Light Reign." The meditation session was organized by the Insight Meditation group - once a month a senior student from Insight leads a sitting group. This style of sitting was a bit different from Shambhala-style vipassana - they like to close their eyes. That aside, it was a healthful experience being in a contemplative space with others, concentrating on the breath and the body. Car alarms on the Ave sounded off around us, while buses pulled in and out of the stations. Thirty minutes flew by. I noticed the color of the sky, the patterns of clouds drifting across the oval aperture, flies on the wall. Turrell grew up as a Quaker in a tradition of silent meditation. As a child, his grandmother explained the practice of meditation to Turrell not as "finding the light" but as "meeting the light." I like this metaphor a lot.
The meditation put me in a clear head and heart space to go and say goodbye to my acupuncturist and to put closure to my therapeutic relationship.
It was a hard summer. I dwell easily in the dark places.
It is said that savasana, or corpse pose, is the most important yoga asana there is - because it is the pose where we practice death. I try to imagine a practice that would allow me to acknowledge death every day, but not negate life and light.
All this said, I am feeling much more like my old self.
