 Are you reading for your own awakening? Every year as the
days start to lengthen and the sun shines a little warmer, I can feel the
urgency within me seeking .... something. This Spring is no different,
and I am amazingly experiencing this so differently that it feels like a whole
new me.
Let's start with the
'PAUSE', shall we?
That precious and exhilarating moment of waiting just as
your legs crouch down and get ready to leap, the pause is about gathering in
your breath, taking in the landscape around you and putting your intuitive
strength of spirit on notice...now is the time for AWAKENING!
Sometimes all this motivation and heavy breathing can get the best
of us before we actually know what is happening. This is where the notion
of Beginner's Mind comes in; and for all you yogis and yoginis out there, I
suspect you know right where this beginner's pause is leading.
Several years ago I began a consistent yoga practice, as opposed to the
occasional stretch with a video in my living room or full-moon meditation at
the spa, and oddly (just to me really) I chose Bikram Yoga as my entry into the
practice. For those of you not personally acquainted with this form of
yoga, it is a 90 minute, 26 pose, 105 degree dance with self every time you
enter the room. For me, the dance was particularly inspiring (she says
with tongue in cheek) because of my level of general fitness(or lack thereof)
and overall intense need to analyze every moment of stretch as it arises.
I had challenged myself (and won btw) to two 30 Day challenges, almost gotten
my nose to my toes and in fact, touched my head to the ground in a backward
bend. So you can imagine how pleased with myself I was when I mentioned
to my yoga teacher that I had some goals to reach in my daily practice.
She immediately giggled as if I must be joking, and with a prolonged looked
that eventually shared her understanding that I was obviously not joking, she asserted,
"you
get that yoga isn't about goals right?"
I most certainly didn't
get that, and said as much, and her next statement, literally set me
free!...this is the kind of truth we are all seeking, but generally don't hear
even when it hits us over the head with a two-by-four..."yoga is just
about showing up in the room, about being fully your best in every moment of
your practice...as that moment appears...and then letting the moment pass'.(
I'm pretty sure she said something wonderful just like this, but time has
turned it into these words as the meaning has emerged for me.)
How is that concept even real?
I almost felt like it was an attempt at a poor
planner's way of getting away with doing nothing. But that day as I
entered the room, as if for the first time, I came to understand the truth
of Beginner's Mind. Rather than psyching myself up for all
that is possible, mentally stringing together each step I will take and filling
my otherwise stuffed mind with more plans to be perfect by the time I die, I simply
took a very deep breath(the Pause both literally and figuratively), emptied my
mind of everything that was coming unbidden to presuppose it knew better than
my own innate sense of intuition and stepped into the best ongoing meditation I
have ever ventured into. (read as, this is a practice and discipline that is
now my best form of meditation in every waking moment of my own daily living.)
There is nothing that knows me better than trusting to my own
divine guidance, opening myself to the very moment of inspiration as it
appears, allowing the space to evolve and act upon new information at the very
moment it becomes real to me. This space of being willing to put down the
'should have dones', the 'could have beens' or the 'supposed to be's' is the most
freeing moment of putting down baggage...like the fool stepping out onto a
truly joyous journey, there is no baggage to carry when we expect the moment
and divinity of life to show up perfectly to support our path. There is
no goal to set, when I remain true to the very demanding calling for
authenticity and authoring of self in each moment with a beautifully opened and
divinely attuned Beginner's Mind.
Listen, can you hear the beckon of the Spring?
Take a deep breath my friend, clear your mind and get ready for the ride! |
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