Sadness and Gratitude

Today was a very emotional day for me. Fortunately I woke up early and decided to start off "on the right note" by meditating to a recording by my beautiful nada yoga teacher, Sri Shyam Bhatnagar. Nada yoga is the yogic science and practice of sacred sound.  After my early morning practice of meditation and yoga I went about my day. About midday some personal issues arose which I was able to process through on the phone with a very dear friend and lots of tears.

When I was through with that I went online to check my email only to discover that my stepsister had died early this morning from a recurrence of breast cancer and lymphoma. She was a trooper and a believer in miracles with a vibrant spirit and after her first battle with it she had managed to keep it at bay for quite a few years.  She was a brilliant artist and although I didn't see her very often we had a deep affection for each other and had grown even closer over the last three or four years by being connected on Facebook and being able to Instant Message each other, which we often did late at night.

More tears... more cleansing...

By late afternoon I was feeling pretty sad and wrung out.
Nonetheless I was determined to write at least a short post. I wanted to share a little taste of Shyamji so I started searching on YouTube and came across the short sweet piece by him above. When I heard him sing even such a short chant, it instantly soothed my spirit.

Here is a picture of my stepsister Alejandra Vernon and, below it, one of my favorite pieces by her.
Loving you Alex, always...