Inner dance is never easy to explain. The lightness in the body. The cosmic party as you dance with yourself. Something, however little, however quiet, moves.

I received an email today from a participant from last Thursday’s ID offering in Heliopolis (Shanti Yoga), who moved a little physically but felt a big shift within. He described the experience as moving, that the session was like a helpful push to restart a stalled vehicle.

Sometimes we feel broken. Our environment, our culture, our own expectations play upon us. Our mechanisms get rusty or ill used. Imbalances occur. The body suffers. And we identify so much with our physical pains, our frayed nerves, our sad feelings.

This makes me recall a chant that I love to sing:

so ham, so ham
so ham shivo ham
I am not my body,
my body is not me

so ham, so ham
so ham shivo ham
I am not my mind,
my mind is not me

so ham, so ham
so ham shivo ham
I am not my ego
my ego is not me

“So ham”, like “tat tvam asi”, means “I am That” — That which is unchanging, unlimited and eternal.

What would our lives be like if we could identify with That, if we saw That in ourselves, in all our fellow human beings and co-habitors in this planet, how would we live our lives like then? How could we not honor and love ourselves and each other?

Photo: Beautiful bronze. Sculpture by Nathan from Atelier de Nathan at Darb compound in Old Cairo.