You can bet with the holiday season about to explode the commercial warehouses are stockpiling for whatever Black Friday is about to unleash. I can't even begin to fathom how huge the warehouses are for Amazon but I'm guessing it's named "Amazon" for a good reason. And whenever I walk through Costco, it's staggering to see the number of goods available for purchase. Rows upon rows, with shelves so high, small cherry pickers are needed to reach whatever is lurking way up there. These companies store and display their many wares with the intention of moving it along to the consumer and we here in North America have access to all of it...an over-abundance of stuff that we most likely don't even truly need.
My thought for the week, however, isn't really about retail, but about storing stuff. We tuck things away on many different levels. We fill up our garages with a lifetime of collectibles and memorabilia. We pack out our closets with shoes and clothes. We hold onto papers thinking we might need them in future and most deceptively, we stuff emotions down into the warehouse of our being. I'm guilty of all these things as I come from a long lineage of pack rats. Something happened to the depression generation of the 30's that taught them to not waste anything and that most things would have a use (eventually).
So to even address the issue of what's in my warehouse, is coming face-to-face with something I strive to become better at doing-letting go. What would really serve me is to actually move from my current house into a much smaller location. Every time I have moved in the past I have undergone major cleansing. I become ruthless (relative to me, of course) in throwing out clutter that has collected into the corners of my life. But we love where we live and have been in this one location for 13 years now with the clutter being a persistent reminder of my letting go practice so I guess I'll have to find another way to surrender without changing my address.
Letting go can begin on a real, physical level by sorting through the paraphernalia. Sort what's to be thrown out, what's to be donated/recycled and what is worth keeping. We have all heard the drill. Yet letting go on an emotional level is a whole new level of releasing what is no longer serving us. It is thought that all of our experiences are held within the cells and memory of our body. Imagine 50 years of experiences being stored within one body...an Amazonian sized, mind-boggling number of experiences. What happens to the experiences we choose to not face directly? If we ignore them, won't they just go away?
Well wouldn't that be nice?
One reason why the practice of yoga is so powerful for people is that it's often the first opportunity that they have in a safe environment to begin unpacking Pandora's box. Something happens as we begin to breathe, stretch and contract our muscles. As we listen to the supportive and directing tones of the teacher we can be led to a place of greater surrender. Often we don't know what's happening but stuff begins to surface and we begin to confront our emotional baggage.
I first noticed this phenomenon as a personal fitness trainer. I'd be standing next to someone on an elliptical trainer and as they're heart beat faster, their breathing rate increased and they began to perspire they would frequently say to me, "You know, I've never told anyone this before, but...". It didn't just happen once or twice. It happened A LOT! I began to sense that when someone felt safe and trusted the person next to them, then began to physically move, something would begin to dislodge and baggage would begin to float to the surface. It was my first full glimpse into the connection between our body, our emotions and our mental states.
Fast forward a few years to the world of yoga and now we have environments with mood lighting, beautiful scents wafting through the air, a teacher with a melodic voice, cushy mats and other props around us. We feel held, safe and often vulnerable. Add into this connecting to a deep breath, narrowing focus and getting rid of distraction we now have the perfect environment for stuff to float to the surface. And this is perfectly okay.
When things are held in our own bodies for years, they form what I've come to call energetic clots. The life force (prana) becomes stagnant and is reflected through our physical selves in numerous ways via illness, mental agitation, depression, injury, fatigue or a seemingly empty feeling. Energy is meant to move through us to remove the things that don't serve us and to enforce practices that do.
This unpacking is a natural evolution of our yoga practice. It comes off in layers, somewhat like an onion which can also bring us to tears. But in this reveal we begin to remember our connection to our deepest sense of self and tap into the question of, "why am I here?". I have grown to appreciate this process, not only for myself, but in bearing witness to it through students who step onto the mat. In that unfolding, we hold each other in a sacred way and allow the space for it to happen.
As the holiday madness draws near, I hope that I release rather than stock up my own warehouse by having gratitude for all that life offers.
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