In honour of my dad and Father’s Day – I love you and miss you!
There is a beautiful quote by Helen Keller that goes like this – “What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”
It is in the quiet moments of Balasana (Child’s Pose) and in the tiny smile on my little boy’s face just before he drifts off to sleep, that I truly feel my Dad’s presence. These are the times that I know he is with me and a part of me, always.
For anyone out there who’s heart is aching from the loss of a loved one, I hope this poem brings you peace. My mom wrote it down a long time ago, and asked my husband to read it at my Father’s service. It warms my heart, and I keep it by my bed and read it often before I go to sleep.
A Parable of Immortality
Author: Henry Van Dyke
I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch until at last she hangs
like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says,
” There she goes! ”
Gone where?
Gone from my sight . . . that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment
when someone at my side says,
” There she goes! ”
there are other eyes watching her coming . . .
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout . . .
” Here she comes! “
Krista Bromfield is a senior teacher at Balancd Life Yoga, a RYT, Can-Fit-Pro PRO Trainer, Mom and Auntie. She has an Honors Degree in Kinesiology and Education, and is the lead Anatomy Instructor for the Balanced Life Yoga Teacher Training Programs. Krista teaches a variety of classes including Power Yoga, Partner Yoga, Kids Yoga, Yog-ahhh, Prenatal Yoga, Stroller Fitness and Mom and Baby Yoga Bootcamp.