Bees & Yoga

It's true that one isn't surprised to come into contact with bees out in nature, especially out at the farm where I do an occasional hour of Farm Yoga.

One might even expect to be stung from time to time....

But twice in less than a week, on both inner arms?, at almost exactly the same spot?  Those odds are pretty slim.

But it's what happened last week, and I felt as if I was mainlining bee juice--they both went right for the big vein just above the wrist....And perhaps died in the very intimate process, I don't know....

The first bee sting was predictable.  We had our mats lying in the midst of luscious white puffs of clover, and I happened to stretch out in Savasana, landing on a clover-happy bee.  So there really wasn't much surprise there.

I casually opened my eyes, brought my arm up to look for the protruding stinger still doing its thing, and finding nothing but a deeply red bump, went back to directing our asanas.

The other really unique thing about this hour was that about midway, I happened to open my eyes once again, lying in a deep spinal twist, to find several chickens surrounding our mats, pecking away in the grass.  

I laughed.

A chicken at eye level isn't something you see every day.

They were like Yoga Guards, on duty.

Deep in spinal twist on the other side, I kept my eyes open and found the dog and cat in the center of our mats, both deeply immersed in their own Savasana.

So, we had created a giant flower of sorts--in the center were the animals, the yoga mats with people were the funky purple petals, and the chickens surrounding us were like raindrops, or moving clouds, or....hmmmm, well, maybe just chickens.

The second bee sting, 4 days later, came from a bumble bee the size of a humming bird.

Unaware that it had landed on the side of my bright green t shirt, I walked into the house from outdoors and accidently brushed my inner arm against the creature.  Of course, it stung me, then fell to the floor.  We scooped it into a glass and put it outdoors on the lilac tree.  But I think this bumble bee died a day later, because I found a mega-corpse on the deck, all curled up.

Had the act of stinging killed it?

Flipping my arms over to see the tender undersides reveals 2 red dots in almost identical places--being mainlined with bee venom is fortunately not a big deal for me.  I am not allergic and for some reason, the sting is only momentary.

I'm still a little tattooed, but really, what are the chances.

And by the way, I've completed my 200 hours of yoga training with Bonnie Berk's Yoga For Health.

Next week we meet to begin my certification process, at which point Brooke's Yoga Harmony will be born!

It's been a long, interesting path, with a final inoculation by bees....as a mystic, I find myself assigning deep meaning to this bee initiation.  What sort of a club is this?  I'll find out!  

As a Buddhist, I realize it just is.