Triangle Delight

The sun is warm

  on my body

as I step my

right foot back

for triangle pose.

My mood is a

little depressed

   with a splatter of

anxiety thrown in.

    I lengthen & reach

with my front arm

  placing my hand on my

shin. I roll my heart

up to the sky,

     stacking shoulder

on shoulder, and

extending my top arm.

I turn my head upward,

my gaze finds this

little fluff of

         cloud

to rest on.

              And from

somewhere deep in side

my core

   A little bubble

of delight

     floats up

turning my mouth

into a smile

sending a little

  charge of pleasure

to my brain.

sky,

        cloud,

                      asana,

delight !

 

 

by  b.d. burton

 

Exchanging Smiles in Rockland Maine

“If in our daily life we can smile,

If we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will

profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.”

Thich Nhat Hahn 

I had just sat down on a bench in the shade when a loud truck horn blared

right next to me and startled me. I looked up and must have smiled

because a woman walking by, smiled at me, and said 

“You have such a nice smile!”

I smiled even bigger. Now it came from my heart and included

smiling with my eyes too. I thanked her for her kind words.

I guess the moral of this story is:  practice

smile asana, lion’s roar and face

yoga. Exercise all our smile muscles

on a regular basis. After all, smiling

compliments don't happen that often, now do they?

bd burton, 7/23/25