In the sacred Mayan calendar, 7 Imox brings us to the crest of the ocean wave. Imox is the nawal of the primordial waters, the subconscious, dreams, imagination, and the fertile chaos from which all creation emerges. It governs intuition, emotional depth, and the liminal spaces where logic dissolves and something more fluid, sensitive, and intuitive takes over. The number 7 marks the midpoint of the trecena, a place of pause, reflection, and spiritual perspective. Together, 7 Imox asks us to stand at the center of our inner tides, witnessing thoughts, feelings, memories, and creative impulses without needing to control or resolve them. This is a day to listen beneath the surface and trust that wisdom is forming, even if it feels messy or unclear.
“Waves on the ocean may rise and fall, but the water remains water.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
My mind feels like a calm ocean today, despite the turbulence around me in the bustling tourist town of Panajachel, where I live. Boats come and go, vendors call out, obnoxious reggaeton music drifts through the air; yet inside, miraculous spaciousness. Stillness. I spent the past week co-leading a retreat. A slower rhythm, savoring cups of coffee and tea, teaching yoga and meditation, walking barefoot around the retreat center, and laughing with new friends over shared meals. As is typically the case after retreat, my awareness feels heightened, my attention more tender, my gratitude immense for every person who came together to form the circle.
Imox lives here in this quiet beneath the noise. In the primordial water that holds everything without judgment.
Last night, in our closing circle, I shared something vulnerable. I spoke about my struggle with depression and anxiety last year, about the depths I found myself in, and about the path back to balance. I named the fear, the doubt, the exhaustion and then the quiet return of breath, practice, trust, and light. Saying it aloud, in community, as my tears fell, felt like a catharsis. A releasing of something I had been carrying underwater in a safe space among loving, thoughtful people. Students and teachers, all of us.
The medicine of 7 Imox is standing at the center of the waters, not being swept away by them, not trying to freeze them into stillness. Just being present. Witnessing. Trusting the intelligence of the tides. Knowing each unique wave is forever part of the vast ocean, no matter how separate it may seem or feel.
Healing usually does not announce itself with fireworks. Sometimes it looks like calm where there used to be chaos. Laughter where there was heaviness. Teaching, leading, and loving again. In the flow.
Today, I let the mind be an ocean at rest.
I let gratitude ripple outward.
I trust the waters that carry me
even when the shoreline is crowded,
even when the world gets too loud.
Maltiox, Nawal Imox.
Thank you for the depths, the void, and the form.
Thank you for the calm and the craziness alike.
Thank you for the wisdom that emerges when we relax into the flow.
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