This process begins in the body, is of the body, and respects the intelligence and power of our embodied forms. We look for the radiance of cellular awareness right along with the brilliance of a thinking mind. Integrity lives in the body, as well as the mind. We inquire into this amalgam of consciousness and form, with curiosity, respect and love. What do we find? We find beauty, tragedy, joy and suffering. Everywhere.
Embodying yoga is a path into our lives, a deep acceptance, and a hard-earned respect for the essence of life itself.
There is no way out of the confusion and the muck of being alive as long as we exist in form. We are in this form. We have taken form. Alive in the field of action, we come from clarity, potential, and radiance. But as we live, we forget. We come to believe we are only the personal self. By definition, the world of form—the world of being alive—is messy.
Some say that transcending back to our original source is the way to alleviate the inherent suffering of being alive. We sometimes call this “returning to source,” or death. Other times, it’s the end of the exhale. But this is our process.
What we seek in this inquiry is a sense of freedom, a way to be complete without too much suffering. Without the need to fix ourselves or the world in order to see the full picture of who we are. We are human beings living lives composed of everything that is and might be. It is wonderful, and even essential, to do all we can for the good of us all. But doing so won’t solve the challenges we face in our own lives. We must act, yes. We must offer love, hope, and assistance to those in need. There is no other honorable choice. But this alone will not relieve our own disappointments, cravings, or mental suffering. That is just part of the game.
There is sorrow, and there is pain. Let go of the idea of getting rid of it. I don’t like it any more than you do. But there is also spontaneous joy and love. Whenever we can dislodge our aversion to our feelings, we stand a better chance of experiencing those moments of joy.
The whole picture includes the source of all this muck—the sea of potentiality and awareness from which everything arises, tirelessly, over and over again.
Seeing the fullness of life as it truly is, without getting lost in how it should be, is the only way to witness the whole picture. Without the whole picture, we miss the context in which we are alive. We end up swimming in desires, cravings, and confusion, desperately trying to escape them, when the only way out is in. Accept. Don’t resist. Do good work. Do what is obviously necessary.
Drop the aversion to aversion. Only then can we act honorably and with love.
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