The Web of Intimacy

In-to-me-see

So, I’m looking through Yoga+ magazine and I come across this short article. I was moved so…and I want to share it with all of you.

The Web of Intimacy

Sometimes, when we are sensitive enough, something in nature momentarily reaches out to us, touches us, and reveals how deeply we are in relationship. My friend and colleague Catherine told me about an experience she had while meditating on the foothills of the French Pyrenees: ‘While doing a standing meditation with my eyes closed in the forest, I noticed a tickle on my face. It traveled repeatedly from my mouth to my right eye and back again over a period of about ten minutes. Practicing non-reactivity, I breathed patiently, sensing many light legs busy walking back and forth. After some time, a new strange sensation appeared on my mouth, like it was being covered. Curiosity got the better of me and I opened my eyes. A small spider had woven a delicate web over my mouth and secured its gossamer thread on an eyelash. I felt an exquisite intimacy with this being. I felt touched at being considered a part of nature, suitable to make a home on. And yet at the same time, I knew I would shatter its home and our intimacy when I opened my mouth. What intimacy, delicacy, and destruction. The touch of grace as delicate as a spider’s thread.’

—Mark Coleman Excerpted from Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path to Self Discovery

Wow!