De-lite in the da storms...get gnarly get groovy
Dear ❤️s ,
The strength of a spiritual practice is not measured in the ability it gives us to do handstands.
That is not to say that there aren't real and practical benefits to the physical practices of yoga asana. As a mother, I was so grateful for all the years on the mat as they paid off in a goddess😉 and handsomely in 2 🌞 s and other dividends, like the ability to more easily schlep those 'sleeping' kids and bags through airports after long haul flights and all the other unimaginable feats of strength mothers must perform in sleep deprived states during the early family years living far from home😅 My practice on the mat gave me grace in action, and what now feels at times is the very ability to defy the physics of ageing...yup, yoga keeps me groovy.😁
Sadly, it seems in our insta image driven society we have become very concerned with what we see; perhaps to the exclusion of what we feel. Yoga is the process of integrating all the layers of the body: the physical, the energetic, the emotional and thought forms; at the same time allowing us to maintain a connection to a greater depth of wisdom, centeredness and peace without dissociating from our realities...we are no longer taken by storms, or living in the la, la, la land of spiritual by-pass...in a cave secluded somewhere insensitive to the difficulties of others...we are able to be out in the environment...braving the wilderness.
And we more than just hold the polarities of earth and sky, we come to know ourselves as the actual bridge between earth and sky. We become compassion in action.
As many of you well know, I have gone through many losses and gains these past few years...losing my mother after a decade of debilitating illness and becoming an orphan, the drawn out dissolution of a long marriage, the fleeing of my London nest by one and soon to be two of my beloved three chickadees... I've also become a yoga teacher, a craniosacral therapist, and what I believe is the best accomplishment: a more peaceful human being. During all of those challenges, the tests, the tests and the tests...I leaned into my spiritual practice, which literally whispered the answers to some of those tests in my ears. For you of little woo woo, let me elaborate...one of my last cranio exams for which I was far too ill with an ear and possible sinus mastoid bone infection, given to me by my beloved daughter, to study, I was forced me to surrender to the maxim, 'trust that when you surrender the earth will support you'. So I went into the exam, 'thinking' I was fully unprepared because I hadn't studied in my traditional way, through my head knowledge. I surrendered to 'what will be will be', a hard task for an insecure academic overachiever, ..and lo and behold, the questions on the exam were largely on the anatomy of the ear, the nerves that served them, and mastoid and other facial bones, and my head was literally throbbing with the knowledge, the answers were known; life had conspired to give me experience and felt sense and it was enough. My earth was literally there to support me.
I have come to know that there are gifts in these storms: grit, determination, commitment, endurance, persistence, surrender...and one few discuss...sweetness. It is said that for the carrot to endure a hard winter, it must produce sugar, internal sweetness, so as not to freeze, and the carrots that are coddled in the la, la, la Cali sun do not, and while beautiful on the outside, they don't have make their own sweetness or other substances produced by the gnarly root vegetables who have learned to endure the frost, cold and bitterness. The ability to root down and make the sweetness within a practice of grounding, to become one with Mother Earth and all her de-lights is to know your own sun(s). Being able to bring that sweetness to others in difficulty is the practice of compassion: to sit and be with others, to be an anchor in their storm, it means you found the 'tru' spiritual heart. Spiritual practice gives us the skills and capabilities that we draw on, that lead us into the spiritual heart, that place of endless re-sourcing....where the sweetness flows...and the only place to anchor when the storms of life come unpredictably.
With your heart in your hands you'll do more than just 'with stand' all the icy bits of life...it's just my experience... that we all need a practice that allows us to learn, to lean in, and to have fun in the storms...so dance your dance, sing your song...and find where you belong ...stay tuned ...and re-member to de-light in life...the groove is in the heart...
I am assisting on a training for yoga teachers and others who wish to be of support to those in need....you don't have to be a yoga teacher to take this course or to make a difference...https://specialyoga.org.uk/training/special-yoga-for-vulnerable-young-people/