This morning I turned on my computer to keep me company as I did the dishes. I had not even considered looking at the Royal Wedding, but there it was. Streaming Live into my kitchen. And I got sucked in, just like a schoolgirl. Time stopped.
Why me? In college I wore a t-shirt that said “Eat the Rich,” at my own sister’s wedding I dyed my hair blue because I hated the blue brides maid’s dress she forced me to wear. As a girl, I cheered for the wicked stepmother and not Cinderella. So why was I sitting on the floor in my pajamas crying at my computer screen? I had to think about it. Even now I get a lump in my throat.
The Royal Wedding was a huge, pompous, bombastic fairytale moving to the beat of horse hooves. In our world where so many bad things are happening and people are starving or killing each other, this wedding took us all by the short hairs because it was a celebration of LOVE. It was not a media blitz about war, disaster, or birth certificates. And for those few streaming hours, viewers all over the world were united in this beautiful escape from their everyday lives.
For those few hours we all dipped our toes into the centuries old stream of history and ritual. As a yogi, this is particularly poignant. Every time each of us steps on the mat we step into that same stream. Not at Buckingham Palace, but in our own yoga practice, we join the throngs who have practiced this ritual over the centuries.
Whether we arrive at the mat by royal carriage, Aston Martin, or Schwinn bicycle doesn’t matter. What matters is that we arrive, the magic happens, and we can find love and blissful escape from the everyday.
image credit: www.tressugar.com