Life, Effortless, Graceful

I was standing in a desert.
  Gauze covered my body
  and swelled in the wind.

Sand dunes all around.
  Wind blowing against my face.
  'Turn to see where the wind is blowing.'

As I turned, Tortoise
  rose beneath my feet,
  lifting me gently off the sand.

In great, slow strides,
  it began to fly above the sand,
  wind at my back, light breeze on my face.

Then, it dipped into the sand.
  Sand flowed across my feet and ankles.
  Arms outstretched, head held high, atop my friend.

Then, he began the dive.
  Sand flowed past my shins, my knees, my waist...
  The steady movement unwavering, never ceasing.

He spoke, 'If you tire, you are resisting.'
  'Allow life to flow.  Don't resist.  Don't fight.'
  Long, steady, slow, mindful, effortless strokes.

The pressure of the sand against my body lifted.
  He swam in great circles, gliding through the sand
  as an eagle through the sky, me on his back, arms outstretched.

'Swim,'  he says.
  I let go just above his mighty shell.
  I mimic his strokes, strong, slow, steady, mindful.
  I am swimming through sand...gracefully, effortlessly.

When I grow weary, I rest atop his shell.
  He continues to swim, through the stars.
  It is all the same to him, sand, stars, ocean.

Resistance is a state created by our minds.
  It is the primal game played by our mind
  with the the most elementary of emotions.

'Let go the resistance to life,' he says.
  'Allow it to flow.
  Rejoice in the flow of life about your feet.
  Revel in your ability to fly, to walk, to breath.

'And, never fear,
  for fear cuts off your breath,
  binds your feet, closes your eyes.'

'Life, death, transitions...
  all are one,
  all are a gift.'

'There nothing to fear,
  everything to rejoice.'