The Purple Haze

Don’t look with your eyes — a yogic lesson of pratipaksha bhavana

Mexican Lavender. Photo ©Erika Burkhalter.

Have you ever gotten down onto your knees
to see the purple haze lingering
over the Mexican Lavender? Have you ever
watched it morph into focus
when you truly look,
not just with your eyes,
but with your soul?

I know that birds can see,
more than we do,
into the realms of violet
and into the long, dark night,
when the owl takes flight, swooping low, gliding
on the breeze. There is no doubt that she sees
that skittering mouse hiding in the bush.

Or what about the blue grosbeaks,
whose iridescence flashes boldly
for their mates,
but is fated to be lost
to our eyes?

And, what about the theory
that migratory birds can actually see
magnetic fields?

The pigeon doesn’t know she is different.
But those cryptochromatic receptors
get awfully excited,
perhaps…