Spanda

Here we are at the beginning of February and if you live in a northern place like I do you maybe wondering if Spring is ever going to come.

The long darkness and bland colors begin to take their toll on even the most stalwart of winter enthusiasts.

One may be tempted to consult one’s calendar only to be dismayed that the first day of Spring is still 11 weeks away.

Well I have some good news for you. Nature doesn’t conduct herself by man’s calendar. She does as she likes.

As my Tantra teacher said “What the Goddess wants is to simply flow in relational patterns of ever greater harmony.”

In Sanskrit the word for pulsation or flow is Spanda. It is a primary energy of practice of Tantrik yoga. It is this pulsation that gives rise to our experience of the world.

Everything is always vibrating, flowing, throbbing or spinning at some scale.

Everything is appearing, disappearing and then re-appearing in awareness.

Without Spanda, consciousness would be static and still. There would be no experience at all.

Recently I visited a secret wild cranberry bog, tucked in between the shifting sand dunes of outer Cape Cod. It had been very cold recently but this day was warmer and so I ventured out. To my delight I was gifted with an abundant crop of juicy sweet cranberries.

It turns out that the freeze/thaw cycle that begins to happen this time of year fills these otherwise bitter berries with the plants underground sugar supply.

This rhythmic pulsing phenomenon that happens this time of year, creates flow and provides much needed sustenance to the non-human beings that survive off the land.

Put on your hat and mittens and get out on the land near you and see what early signs of movement and rhythm you can detect. It may be subtle and tentative but I assure you it is there.

And in case you weren’t aware, this pumping action provided by the vibration of freezing and thawing is also responsible for the flow of sap in trees this time of year.

That sap flow from the sugar maple tree is what is harvested to make maple syrup. Tree taping season begins in February.

Pancakes anyone?

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