Nature lives with us in harmony and in the purest way. I wander through the woods, watch her mysterious posture, and feel her ethereal and impermanent aura. Our tacit understanding is invisible, but it soothes our souls and hearts. At this moment, our souls are enjoying the fun of being with the elves of nature!

In the summer of 2021, I practiced outdoor yoga to try to relax my body and mind. During the process, heaven and earth were blended in me, which made me feel that I was born from nature instead of my mother. The Chakrasana pose, like a bridge, connects me to heaven and earth, and the body of the tree is my bridge. The deep stretch extends my body to the entire universe. The pose looks like a wheel. It can be the wheel of time, space, and self-identities. They transform into each other.

I can feel the magic and power of nature, and even feel the privity between us in their silence. In this fantasy world, the creatures are chasing and playing with the children on the ground. The immeasurable joy is invisible, but it soothes our souls and hearts. At this moment, our souls are enjoying the fun of being together with the elves of nature!

During the quarantine, I don’t have a chance to travel. The place where I live is very close to Tilden Park. Recently I realized that the nature that I long for is in my backyard! I can stay there in the woods for a long time, sometimes taking pictures or sketching. I admire the tree’s persistence in time and immunity to aging; And I envy them even when they wither, and they return to back to nature in the most beautiful way, decomposing. Here I find a place for my work to take shape. I hope that despite the global epidemic, pandemic, we can still find a similarly harmonious posture and inner peace for ourselves, others, and the world. 

Dust returns to dust; soil returns to soil; eventually, they will all return to the earth as they were.  

I pick up flowers from my garden, place them in vases, and watch them withering as they dry. I envy them even when they are withering, as they are melting back to nature in the most beautiful way; I envy them as their postures are so elegant and free, leaving a lingering and mesmerizing fragrance. 

As I reach my middle age, I feel the loss of youth daily and perceive my smallness. The river of life flows tirelessly, and we will eventually all disappear. Birds fly away without leaving a trace on the sky, but I hope I can leave a trace of my breath in the most beautiful memory of others and return to the dust with the most elegant posture. I hope that all women, like these short-living flowers, show their grace and beauty at every stage of their lives.