Poems have a way of transporting us into realms of feeling that our everyday language often can’t. They can give us permission to alter an overly negative inner dialogue.
I teach yoga as part of my therapeutic practice and I always close the class with a poem. It helps me, and participants share that they help them too. Perhaps there’s one here that will nestle a home deep inside of you. Or one that will open to your eyes to a new vantage point.
Here are TWELVE of my favourite poems (for now). So whether you’re a yoga teacher looking for poems to end Savasana, or simply a poetry lover, check these out:
Let It Go – Danna Faulds
Let go of the ways you thought life
would unfold: the holding of plans
or dreams or expectations – Let it
all go. Save your strength to swim
with the tide. The choice to fight
what is here before you now will
only result in struggle, fear, and
desperate attempts to flee from
the very energy you long for. Let go.
Let it all go and flow with the grace
that washes through your days whether
you receive it gently or with all your
quills raised to defend against invaders.
Take this on faith: the mind may never
find the explanations that it seeks, but
you will move forward nonetheless.
Let go, and the wave’s crest will carry
you to unknown shores, beyond your
wildest dreams or destinations. Let it
all go and find the place of rest and
peace, and certain transformation.
Enough – David Whyte
Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.
This opening to the life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now.
My Beloved Child – Swami Kripalu, Bapuji
My beloved child,
break your heart no longer.
Each time you judge yourself
you break your own heart.
You stop feeding on the love,
which is the wellspring of your vitality.
The time has come, your time
To live, to celebrate…
and to see the goodness that you are…
Let no one, no thing, no idea or ideal obstruct you
If one comes, even in the name of “Truth”,
forgive it for its unknowing
Do not fight
Let go
And breathe – into the goodness that you are.
A Medicine Woman’s Prayer – Sheree Bliss Tilsley
I will not rescue you,
For you are not powerless.
I will not fix you,
For you are not broken.
I will not heal you,
For I see you, in your wholeness.
I will walk with you through the darkness
As you remember your light.
Six Words of Advice – Tilopa
Let go of what has passed.
Let go of what may come.
Let go of what is happening now.
Don’t try to figure anything out.
Don’t try to make anything happen.
Relax, right now, and rest.
I Cannot Tell You What Lies Ahead – Morgan Harper Nichols
I cannot tell you what lies ahead,
but I can tell you: you will grow.
Your ability to keep going each day
is a sign of courage on its own.
I know that peace feels far away
as you try to make sense of all the change,
and I just hope you can remember this:
You do not have to make sense of it all
in order to be worthy of peace.
To be the one who keeps breathing
in the unknown is a brave and miraculous thing.
Learning to exhale is no small feat.
You are doing brave things.
Yes, you are doing brave things
even though it doesn’t always feel that way.
As I Began To Love Myself – Charlie Chaplin
“As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth. Today, I know, this is “AUTHENTICITY”.
As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody if I try to force my desires on this person, even though I knew the time was not right and the person was not ready for it, and even though this person was me. Today I call it “RESPECT”.
As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life, and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow. Today I call it “MATURITY”.
As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance, I am in the right place at the right time, and everything happens at the exactly right moment. So I could be calm. Today I call it “SELF-CONFIDENCE”.
As I began to love myself I quit stealing my own time, and I stopped designing huge projects for the future. Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness, things I love to do and that make my heart cheer, and I do them in my own way and in my own rhythm. Today I call it “SIMPLICITY”.
As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health – food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism. Today I know it is “LOVE OF ONESELF”.
As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right, and ever since I was wrong less of the time. Today I discovered that is “MODESTY”.
As I began to love myself I refused to go on living in the past and worrying about the future. Now, I only live for the moment, where everything is happening. Today I live each day, day by day, and I call it “FULFILLMENT”.
As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me and it can make me sick. But as I connected it to my heart, my mind became a valuable ally. Today I call this connection “WISDOM OF THE HEART”.
We no longer need to fear arguments, confrontations or any kind of problems with ourselves or others. Even stars collide, and out of their crashing new worlds are born. Today I know “THAT IS LIFE”!”
Fully Human – Victoria Erikson
To be fully human is to be wild. Wild is the strange pull and whispering wisdom. It’s the gentle nudge and the forceful ache. It is your truth, passed down from the ancients, and the very stream of life in your blood. Wild is the soul where passion and creativity reside, and the quickening of your heart. Wild is what is real, and wild is your home.
Let July Be July – Morgan Harper Nichols
Let July be July by allowing yourself to trust: It’s okay if you cannot make sense of it all right now. What matters is that somehow, you found grace to breathing through. And now, you’ve made it to August where you’ll find: there is more to you.
Let August be August by allowing yourself to trust: you do not have to be so hard on yourself if you cannot make sense of all that is changing. In the coming days, you will find mystery, and you will also find room to breathe and you might just find even in these unknowns: you are more prepared than you think.
You are free to take the time you need to feel what you need to feel… including the good feelings.
Don’t let them rush you. You are traveling at the pace you were meant to.
You are still free to pursue peace right here in the in-betweens.
Whatever happens this month, be gentle with yourself. Even here, there is still space for us to rise above the fear…propelled into motion by love.
There is more to come. More love. More joy, More grace More peace.
Let this be the August you look back on and say: somehow, through it all, learned to fall in love with the journey.
Just For Now – Danna Faulds
Just for now,
Without asking how,
Let yourself sink into stillness.
Just for now, lay down the weight
You so patiently bear upon your shoulders.
Feel the earth receive you,
And the infinite expanse of the sky grow even wider,
As your awareness reaches up to meet it.
Just for now,
Allow a wave of breath to enliven your experience.
Breathe out whatever blocks you from the truth.
Just for now,
Be boundless, free,
With awakened energy tingling in your hands and feet.
Drink in the possibility,
Of being who and what you really are,
So fully alive that the world looks different,
Newly born and vibrant,
Just for now.
I Do Not Know Where Tomorrow May Lead – Morgan Harper Nichols
I do not know where tomorrow
will lead,
but I know I am free
to give my all
with audacious hope
for what could be.
And maybe I do not
have to know how
it all works out
in the end
to let this time in my life be
something worth remembering.
The fear does not
have to go away
before I choose
to practice courage
with what I create.
And whenever I
start to feel that I am not
good enough,
I will work to remember:
it still matters
to show up with love.
I am not the only one
who feels like this
and when I choose to practice courage out in the open
it makes a difference.
The Most Challenging Thing About Love Is Learning How To Bring It Inward – Jacquie Compton
Sometimes, the most challenging thing about love
is learning how to bring it inward
to learn that building a relationship with yourself, in the name of love, helps you tend to your life more fully
by nourishing your authenticity by nourishing your truth
nourishing you, in all stages, transitions, and transformations
going in and loving you
Embarking on the journey of bringing love inward
and preparing to go so far in, deeply in
you will fall upon the discovery of vast landscapes
caves and forests of beauty
places that have remained unknown
and untouched for so long
In turn, that love supporting your heart
supports a dance of opening and closing,
giving and receiving, and allows more space for presence
more space for you
allowing you room to spread your beauty across the seas
allowing you to take up space and be fully you
As you bring the love in
your needs begin to flow, they are met with acknowledgment
met with grace, met with appreciation
your needs begin to speak and give others the permission
to speak theirs
The dance unfolds with grace
fluid, moving to a song that is yours
the giving and receiving, seeing and believing,
honoring and understanding,
holding in and letting go
opening and closing
you embody the dance
Loving yourself fully, deeply and unconditionally
is a hard but fulfilling journey
moving in towards your centre and then moving out
a deeper meaning begins to unfold as you become
become just you, from a place of love
As you move the love inward, like the lotus seed
that can remain dormant for thousands of years
in this time, it is just fulfilling a journey of loving inward
until one day, when it feels ready
not based on its external world,
but when, instead, it feels ready,
it begins to transform and grow
out of the mud, through the adversities
it becomes, it grows
it sits in love
enveloping in all of itself, in its wisdom
As you guide your love inward
confidence allows itself to be
stitched back together with the sweet words
your mother dreamed of in her sleep
as your grew quietly strong in her womb
As you guide your love inward
you begin to unveil your purpose
of spreading seeds of beauty and understanding in this world
As you guide your love inward
the wisdom buried deep
that the little girl holds inside you
sings a spell that knows what she needs
As you guide your love inward
the story that is yours and only yours to tell
spills onto the pages of belief, one petal of
wisdom and truth at a time
you begin to believe in you
How should you begin?
Breathe, pause,
take a moment to settle into your heart
and be ready to take to the leap
as you step into your journey of loving inward
I hope these poems bring you meaning and joy, and that you share them with someone who needs to hear them.
Clare Karasik, MSW, RSW 
A tasty collection of poems! thanks for sharing.