Self Portrait by David Whyte

• •              Art by [Beth Hoeckel](http://bethhoeckel.com/)

   I want to know if you belong or feel*

• abandoned.*
• If you know despair or can see it in others.*
• I want to know*
• if you are prepared to live in the world*
• with its harsh need*
• to change you. If you can look back*
• with firm eyes*
• saying this is where I stand. I want to know*
• if you know*
• how to melt into that fierce heat of living*
• falling toward*
• the center of your longing. I want to know*
• if you are willing*
• to live, day by day, with the consequence of love*
• and the bitter*
• unwanted passion of your sure defeat.*

I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even

• the gods speak of God.*

– David Whyte

 

*This beautiful poem was introduced to us by our trip leader and yoga teacher Sarah Zandbeek. She says “It’s all about cracking open the mind and the body simultaneously. One does not open without the other, though there are exceptions to everything.” *