This time of year I always think of the quote:
“The trees are about to show us how beautiful letting go can be.”
And it’s true, letting go can be a beautiful and deeply peaceful experience – as long as it’s not forced upon one’s self by an idea or thought of having to let go, or an unwillingness to see what needs to be seen. Trees don’t force their leaves to go but let it happen when the time is right.
For me, letting go is the natural end of a cycle, it happens organically when something is finished. Many times simply being aware and willing to see something fully is enough for it finish it’s cycle and let itself go and in doing so we become un-done; internal space is created and an ability to just be arises.
This is a really hard thing in our culture to ‘wrap’ our minds around because our society values doing so much – overdoing is revered and put on a pedastool. It’s a real mind cluster to learn how to ‘do’ the undoing. We’re all so busy with….everything.
Where is the time to see what’s real in our bodies, our selves, our emotions, and our thoughts that is so necessary to life?
To me, that is what a Yoga practice is. The space to undo.
To undo the movement patterns that cause our bodies and minds stress, so that we can be more resilient, authentic, present, and full of ease.
That’s where I teach my classes from. The physical postures of yoga are not about stretching or contorting our bodies into some shape, but rather a beautiful life long exploration of our own relationship between reality and potential.
My classes are undoing classes – we don’t do yoga instead we breath, move in gentle authentic ways, learn to see our own natural edges and rest deeply within them.
Where is the Yoga, you may ask? The Yoga arises naturally without effort, like leaves letting go.