Every morning I strive to wake up before the sun rises. I drink a couple cups of hot water, I do an asana practice and I take my seat for meditation. By the time I am done, the sun has risen and a new day has begun. 

The quality of the sunrise has everything to do with my intention as I go through the motions. Some mornings, I forget and I just do, plugging away at task after task, and yet another day rolls through. Other days, I remember and I have a conversation with the Divine. I remind Suzanne that everything is Brahman (universal consciousness) – my body, my thoughts, my emotions, my house, my family, my dogs, the food, my neighbors, and so forth…it is all Brahman. Then, I finish my practice and the sun rises in all its richness and glory and I can see the spectrum of salmon, blue, and orange colors, the subtle movements of the trees surrounding it, I can hear the birds singing…my vision expands. This heightened perception yields a brighter day where Suzanne is more attuned to the universe at large and in turn she makes better decisions, experiences more joy, and loves her family and friends more.

These morning offerings imbued with awareness of the Divine embody the practice of Ishvara Pranidhana (Ishvara meaning higher source and Pranidhana meaning surrendering to). By setting this intention, I imply the feeling that everything that exists is touched by the grace of Universal Consciousness, the light of the Divine. I feel her presence and that feeling often stays alive throughout my day.

As Covid-19 has swept the world, my family and I have been living in a state of joy. Even though we have some concerns about how we will survive in the future, are watching the state of the world, are worried about friends and family…we are loving each other greatly during this time and making each day a day where we explore hobbies that were lost in the hustle and bustle…we are present, in the moment, and we are feeding our souls. Some days it’s not so perfect and then we double our efforts to maintain the feeling of divine living and a state of sattva (equnimity, peace, clarity). So, we take out our toolbags: we use my mantra throughout the day, we sit with japa when I have a free moment, we practice meditation in action, we do breath-work to keep us centered, we practice yoga nidra to relax, we read books by people that inspire us, and surrender all thoughts, all words, all actions to the Divine, and then we pray for strength to serve the Supreme Self within.

With my ascending efforts in practice comes the descending grace of the Divine – an understanding that everything is as it was always meant to be, it is perfect, and this moment is auspicious. I can deduce this from experience – that the traumas of my childhood and young adult life while devastating to my limited mind at the time taught me so much about the human condition, the mind, and how I can transform abuse, pain, PTSD into creativity and love. This is all part of my path as a yoga teacher. And so, when I look at Covid-19 and see how this is a worldwide pandemic, I find myself recognizing it as a collective karma and an auspicious opportunity to transform society as a whole. Covid-19 is showing each and everyone of us various karmas we can work with and learn to resolve.

Seers believe that this karma has been a long time coming and it is the result of humankind honoring technology, science, and earning a living instead of worshiping the Divine. For centuries, humankind has ignored Spirit by damaging the ecosystem. Mother nature has warned us of the imbalances we create with one natural disaster after another. If you can remember just before we were swept with this crisis we were burning from the natural bushfires in Australia, typhoons in China and Japan, heat waves in India, cyclones in Africa, Earthquakes in New Guinea, Tsunamis in Indonesia and more. Each event sped by like a trivial glance from a disappointed mother and we ignored them like know-it-all teenagers. We never stopped to listen, did not stop to change our ways. Instead we chose to keep speeding forward over and over again, putting in another pipeline and tearing down another forest. As a culture our society forgot about Spirit – work, work, working and click click clicking to purchase unnecessary things and it all sped by like a montage in fast forward. 

While devastating, Covid-19 is nature’s way of pushing us into spiritual maturity by asking us to slow down and listen so that we can get out of autopilot and renegotiate our intentions for living. Covid-19 is giving us an opportunity to change how we think, how we build, how we grow, it is an opportunity to reconsider our intention for living.

What is your intention for living? What has it been? How many actions a day did/do you take to serve that intention? Is your intention in line with your deepest driving desire? What is your deepest driving desire? What brings you perennial joy? What makes time slow down for you, what feeds your Spirit? For some it’s art, music, writing, inventing, cooking, gardening, what is it for you? What has been your attitude towards Covid-19? Have you succumbed to greed, fear, anger, hatred, or are you like the Bodhisattva practicing loving kindness and compassion? What will help you get aligned? How will you better serve your Spirit, the Supreme Self?

These questions are worth deep contemplation – journaling. And once you figure it all out, draft the perfect schedule for yourself – so that all actions start to feed your intention. Then put it all into action. Try this and remember: