So often yoga classes start with the teacher asking students, “Check in with yourself.” We may scan our bodies for knots and pains, note the pace and tenor of our mind’s thought track, and weightiness of our emotions. We don’t always check in with our spirit, and the fluidity of our connection to it. Explore these prompts for a line to your spirit.

Early in my yoga practice, I often rushed to the studio straight from work. I quickly shed my conservative suit, rolled out my purple mat and exhaled, or was it melted? Getting to class was a push after failing to extract myself from the office on time, but part of my scurry was a desire to whisk past the oddities on the studio shop’s shelves. 

I’d always loved hearing stories about ghost sightings or angel assists. I wanted to believe. Yet when I heard a firsthand account, it inevitably threw me. I thought I was open to the possibility of what we do not normally see or understand in our physical world, but my very rational left brain analysis kicked in and spit out a “does not compute” response, usually in the form of copious tears streaming down my cheeks.

I think fear at the notion of the paranormal landing so close to my reality zone threw me into a confused state of irreconciliation. I trusted the person telling me their story, yet I found it unbelievable on some level. Until it came my turn to meet face-to-face with a seemingly impossible being and I surrendered to possibility.

Winding away from my cul-de-sac, beyond landscaped lawns and sidewalks onto the muddy, overgrown path of the forest, I scanned along mossy limestone outcroppings, remnants of a glacial past, for a resting spot. Nestling into the scooped root bed of a mature tree, I felt the strong, rough trunk firm behind my back.

I tilted my head back and opened my eyes to the dizzying sway of naked branches creaking under swiftly skimming clouds. I sunk into the leaf-covered ground, thankful for the winter partition this sunny day offered. Connected and grounded, I felt the energy of the tree enter through my back, filling my body with its signature current.