This past week seems to have held more heaviness
than in typical week. A dear friend's Grandma passed away. She was getting
close to 100 yet the passing was no less painful. A 17-year old local high
school senior passed away following a freak skateboarding accident. Although I
didn't know him personally, what his family and friends went through hit me
hard. I know many people who were connected to him and it seemed to reach far
into the community-the senseless tragedy of a young person's life ending before
what seemed to be his time.
I hear stories of illness and violence through my own clients. It leaves me wondering how can I continue to be a container for such trauma? One of the most profound lessons of my recent time in India was that of bearing witness to other people's suffering. I know that had I not been firmly grounded in my own practices, then perhaps it would've been more than I could possibly bear.
We practice yoga in moments of relative ease so that they can kick into full gear when something incomprehensible rocks our world. It teaches us to have the real, tactile human experience of strong emotion and then...to let it go-swaha.
This past week I classes I spoke about the Sanskrit word, swaha. It means to "let go" or "release into the world". It's connected to the idea of non-attachment, one of Patanjali's Yamas (Aparigraha). The idea is that we cling onto things in our lives, such as possessions, relationships and beliefs, thinking they'll give us a sense of security. When we realize that everything is in transition, we also realize that the sense of attachment is an illusion. Everything changes. We will all make our passing transition one day and holding onto the idea that this will never happen to us, creates suffering.
What is also created is the realization of how precious the "now" is. Each moment we live in conscious presence, we open fully to the moment we are experiencing. This moment...this breath...now.
The heavy-hearted experiences of these past couple of weeks reminds me to step completely into my experience. My intention is to find gratitude for all that I have, for who I know and for the intimacy of that knowledge and those relationships. Instead of holding onto the past or launching into the future, I am in all of my humanness, with its deep and often rocky emotions.
I hear stories of illness and violence through my own clients. It leaves me wondering how can I continue to be a container for such trauma? One of the most profound lessons of my recent time in India was that of bearing witness to other people's suffering. I know that had I not been firmly grounded in my own practices, then perhaps it would've been more than I could possibly bear.
We practice yoga in moments of relative ease so that they can kick into full gear when something incomprehensible rocks our world. It teaches us to have the real, tactile human experience of strong emotion and then...to let it go-swaha.
This past week I classes I spoke about the Sanskrit word, swaha. It means to "let go" or "release into the world". It's connected to the idea of non-attachment, one of Patanjali's Yamas (Aparigraha). The idea is that we cling onto things in our lives, such as possessions, relationships and beliefs, thinking they'll give us a sense of security. When we realize that everything is in transition, we also realize that the sense of attachment is an illusion. Everything changes. We will all make our passing transition one day and holding onto the idea that this will never happen to us, creates suffering.
What is also created is the realization of how precious the "now" is. Each moment we live in conscious presence, we open fully to the moment we are experiencing. This moment...this breath...now.
The heavy-hearted experiences of these past couple of weeks reminds me to step completely into my experience. My intention is to find gratitude for all that I have, for who I know and for the intimacy of that knowledge and those relationships. Instead of holding onto the past or launching into the future, I am in all of my humanness, with its deep and often rocky emotions.
One of my dearest friends
once said to me, "that experience of helplessness opens the heart". My thought
for the week is that this is true and many hearts have been broken wide open.
The solace is that we have community in which we hold each other and eventually,
understand that all of us need to let go.
Swaha.
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