Where does our nourishment come from? What feeds our souls the way a well-crafted web feeds a spider? With a coat of dew and the angled light of morning, spiderwebs glisten on front lawns, hedgerows and the branches of trees. They occupy the corners of our windows, doorways and any place else deemed suitable locations for their creations. With winter around the corner, female spiders in our region are most active this time of year as they feast in order to produce eggs and cocoons to keep the young warm through the cold months ahead. It is with our thoughts, choices, actions and conversations which we weave the webs of our lives. This immense network we are born into, creates and feeds us even as we create it, becoming the lifeblood in all that we do. We may not have silken thread trailing behind us as we move, but instead there exists a trail of relationships which become our support, fuel and legacy. This is our grounding connection to the earth, and the source of food that warms us through the winters of our lives. A spider’s web not only provides food, but also exists as a means of travel, egg-bearing, mating and security. In a remarkable flight-like act, spiders use long, single strands of silk to cross land, rivers, and even oceans, traveling miles at a time. Thousands of feet in the air, these eight-limbed creatures remain grounded by their delicate silk reaching down to the earth. Our own ambitions of flight, our own journeys, paths and goals are made possible only by the maintained connections to earth and the relationships we foster. Relationships of a diverse nature, indeed. Relationships with friends, family and communities. Relationships with the land, gardens, pets, animals and birds. Relationships with our work, hobbies and passions. And relationships with a higher power or the wind passing through it all. Far more than a series of physical poses to be perfected, the eight-limb path of yoga is in large part the practice of fostering stronger and healthier relationships. What takes place on the mat is important, but so too are the conversations held after class, the meals consumed and the thoughts cultivated. It is also not a path intended, nor possible, to be traveled alone. It is convenient that in coming to a yoga studio we are joined by a diverse group of people from wide-ranging backgrounds, in pursuit of shared values and beliefs. It is a gathering steeped in ancient wisdom, passed down by modern-day teachers. This wisdom and the teachers who channel it remind us the responsibility for constructing a good life resides within our own bodies, no different from the spider, whose remarkable silk is produced from its own abdomen. As we weave our webs and conduct our lives, we do so with the empowering knowledge that our greatest strengths lie within. Our ability to support ourselves and the world around us. To live with compassion, honesty, acceptance, non-judgement and generosity. To grow a life founded in such principles means that even when one strand of our web may break or suffer from impact, the rest of the network remains intact, able to support and withstand whatever comes our way. We are reminded also of the larger web to which we are intricately connected and interdependent. So when we find ourselves at great heights, covering vast distances, let us not forget our silken threads. It is the communal connection and wisdom of the hands, hearts and land bolstering us on our way, which make flight possible in the first place.
The weekly essay emanates from an ongoing conversation between Yoga Underground studio-owner, Danielle Lindner, and local writer, Nolan Morris. Mistakes, errors and misrepresentations are those of the writer's. We want your feedback. What would you want to see discussed? What do you like or dislike? Reach out with questions or comments of any kind to Nolan Morris via email at morrisnj1010@gmail.com
