A yogi celebrating Easter

A yogi celebrating Easter

I am sitting in the studio’s garden this beautiful spring day, surrounded by hundreds of little song birds, (and not a small number of crows), all nesting and laying eggs. A few weeks ago, they arrived, flocks of starlings, and swallows. Very soon the garden will be filled with little birds learning to fly. Afterwards, in the autumn, they will leave, and the birds who winter in Ireland will arrive. The circle of life in an Irish garden from a bird’s perspective.

As I ponder this cycle of life, I wonder about the meaning of Easter, of death and rebirth.  What was the Celtic tradition, before Christianity? What do other cultures and traditions do?

And what does it mean to me?

What parts of me have been killed off?

Maybe it is my singing voice, which was silenced when I was just 6 years old, preparing for my communion because my hearty singing was putting the other children off. (I remember the teacher going along the line listening to each of us before stopping at me and pointing to tell me to be silent).

Or is it when, as a young mum, I chose to not eat until I had fed all the kids, and so ended up both malnourished and overweight because I lived on chocolate and coffee.

Or was it when I denied my anger and frustration, because I didn’t think that was ‘nice’, or that I had no right to be angry.

These are just a tiny few parts of me that I killed off, or allowed to be killed off. Now as an adult, I can go back and respect them and allow those aspects of myself be seen, heard, breathe and ultimately healed.

As an adult I can hug the small child and encourage her to sing her heart out. I can see the stay-at-home mum, who is so hard on herself and offer her compassion and kindness. And I can acknowledge the wisdom held in anger, because beneath anger is unmet needs. I can hold space for that anger, and allow it pass, reach the sadness, and from there hold her hand, and support her ask for what she needs.

Today as an adult I can allow all those parts of myself which I killed off to be reborn into the light of my love for myself and the knowledge that we are all perfect whole beings. That it is the lies we believe about ourselves and the generations of wearing blinkers that stop us from seeing the truth, that we are perfect and complete underneath all our insecurities and fear.