STONE ALTAR by Krista Katrovas

 I believe that spirit and healing can be found in everything and through every practice…

As the Dalai Lama says, "We must make room for all believers, and also, room for the non-believers." 

The poem Stone Altar came to me after moving into my new home, after I made my Stone Altar. Though it is written in third person, it is I who I am speaking of in the poem.

Stone Altar

She balances her stones,

one on top of the other,

rocks she’s collected

from all over the U.S.

India, Europe,

and Canada,

places them onto a plate.

She calls them stone people.

Holds the spirit

of each one,

feeling their ruggedness,

tracing the cracks, bumps,

knots of earth,

hoping somehow

her hands are able to bring healing,

peace to the people,

to the ancestors,

to the memories stored inside the stones.

She picks up a gray one

from Terezin concentration camp,

imagines herself

rubbing the worry from it

while remembering the guide,

a man who’s now her friend.

He spoke of the human spirit,

the hope that they had

during those horrific times

as they worshipped in the ghettos,

in secret,

in the stone belly

of the hidden synagogue.

She hurt her foot

while carrying hot stones

with a pitch fork

into a sweat lodge.

Felt the heat of them,

the balls of fire

readied for sweaty prayer

before the water-filled gourd 

doused them,

making steam

to melt worry, ego,

so prayers would come.

Over time these stones break,

crumble into little ones

like the rocks

on her stone altar.

She is a mason of sorts, a witch,

a goddess, yogini, dakini,

Enlightened female Buddha,

who meditates, sweats, and prays

with stones.

~

Krista Katrovas (E-RYT) has dedicated herself to the practice, study and teaching of yoga since discovering it in 1999 after dancing rigorously as a dance major in college. Krista has had scores of articles on Yoga, Wellness, and Spirituality published in nationally regulated magazines. She has a regular column at Elephant Journal here. She has taught Yoga in Prague every July since 2009 and has been sought to teach in Kuwait, Canada, Virginia, California, Kentucky, and Florida. She calls Kalamazoo, Michigan home, where she teaches Yoga, Meditation, offers Spiritual guidance, and practices Shamanism. She has cats, though also loves dogs, all animals. Her power animal is the Snowy Owl. Visit her yoga website here.

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