Enjoy this re-post and Middle Ground pause.
Place of silence Photography by Ingo Dumreicher
“There’s nothing to prove, nothing to figure out, nothing to get, nothing to understand.
When we finally stop explaining to ourselves, we may discover that in silence, complete understanding is already there.”
Steve Hagen
Within nothing is everything
Beyond everything is nothing
When the unknown becomes known there is nothing to know
Let it be found in stillness
When the innumerable searches are concluded,
The realization dawns that
The optimal place to be is
Where one already is.
It is an arrival at the place
Where there is no solid footing beneath,
The understanding of all things.
Until the conclusion,
The searcher is like
A cod asking directions to the ocean
~ Wu Hsin from “The Lost Writings” translated by Roy Melvyn
Wu Hsin’s insights into spirituality and Oneness always bring a smile.
It isn’t easy learning to go with the flow, until we stop asking for directions, and find the courage to be with no solid footing.
The path to truth is
so wide and universal
that I have to laugh
at my belief that there
could be one way,
one gate, one right
answer, that I could
need to do anything
at all to be complete.
~ Danna Faulds taken from “Limitless”
May these words bring a smile to your day.
Namaste
Saturday’s are my busiest work day. As a yoga teacher and mentor for teachers, today is the day when most people can come to class or attend a workshop.
I love it! But it does take me away from my regular check ins on WordPress, and being as available for my husband Don.
Today was a very good day. I woke up and checked in with Don to see how his night went. He is going through a new round of chemotherapy for skin cancer that has metastasized to his lungs. He slept well last night, but didn’t have the energy to get up to feed and water the dogs or have breakfast with us. So I did the doggy duty before getting ready to teach a gentle yoga flow class at 9.00.
I am so appreciative of my regular students who show up no matter what, even when others have escaped to the shore or the beach for the weekend. (Its a big thing here around Philly!)
After class I set up for a Restorative Yoga workshop. Three new people appeared ready to relax and be restored! They brought humor and a willingness to go with this strange and intimidating yoga stuff.
As I watched the participants let go and connect to their physical body and breath, it was wonderful to hear at the end “I never thought I would last for an hour and a half, but I wanted it to go forever”. So many of us have forgotten how to let go and relax as part of our daily living. We don’t need a class to sign up for, but we do need to be aware how essential relaxation is for our well being.
We talked about starting a gentle beginners class to introduce them to more yoga in a safe and nurturing environment.
I hope I never forget how intimidating yoga might sound to people, until they experience it for themselves in a way that they are ready for.
After a snack I met with a yoga teacher as part of catching up with my signature program mentoring yoga teachers. A new insight and discovery of a way to be true to herself and keep her students safe was embraced 💛
Saturday is a time of practice, teaching and inspiring others to tune in to their own wisdom, be open to new knowledge and integrate it into their very being.
Saturdays are no longer “leisure” to me but one of the most meaningful happy days of the week.
When I left the studio I stopped off and got some great looking Norwegian salmon for dinner. (Almost as good as Scottish!). I soaked a cedar plank and we had delicious grilled salmon.
Don came down and manned the grill. He was able to eat and said he enjoyed his meal.
This has become an awesome day. 🌞
Gratitude to all of you who touch my life and expand the love and connection is so many ways.
Namaste
“We can learn to transcend our ego, gradually, by placing ourselves more and more in the position of the transcendental Self, which knows no likes and dislikes but simply witnesses all experiences and states of existence. As our capacity for witnessing – mindfulness – increases, we automatically slip more and more into our true nature.”
Georg Feuerstein
When we have a mindfulness practice our ego begins to lose its power over us. We start to see ourselves as connected beings rather than separate.
What does this look like? We notice our self reflected in others. We have more compassion for our self as well as others. We become part of humanity and beingness. We learn to let go of expectations of how things should be and trust in each moment as it unfolds.
The more we practice and connect to our higher Self, the more we let go of the past and our worries about the future.
There is no need to escape, because we are already home.
We learn to trust and live in place of love rather than fear.
This is our true nature.
Some sages say it takes years of practice with discipline and willpower, while other modern sages say that we are able to open to it in the moment when we live from our true nature. Georg Feuerstein’s words capture both elements of the traditional long path and the modern short path on the spiritual journey.
Image by Elizabeth Gadd ~ http://www.elizabethgadd.com
“After the Spiritual Honeymoon, there is a coming to terms with a new reality and way of being.
With spiritual awakening your motivation falls away.
Your personal will drains out of the system – to achieve, succeed, to be right, to be recognized. We can’t prepare for this. For most people there’s confusion as it disappears and flows out of you. Your references of what to do, why to do it, how to do it disappears. There is no personal desire. You don’t know what you want.
This is a limbo zone. There is relief from the relentless tyrant and inner critic driving you. Yet the new energy hasn’t come in yet.
It would be great if this universal direction appears, but for most people it doesn’t happen like this. There are a lot more people in this No Man’s Land now.
It is often ushered in by a powerful moment of transformation. This is the fulfillment of spiritual awakening and also a beginning. ”
Adyashanti
Image by Elizabeth Gadd ~http://www.elizabethgadd.com
I heard these words from Adyashanti and they really resonated with me. I feel like I too have experienced a no man’s land of awakening. This is a place to learn acceptance, being vulnerable, and above all trusting in the unknown in a new way.
… And in the meantime I continue to teach yoga and coach my clients to bring them to their middle ground, discover new perspectives and find acceptance and peace within themselves. From this place, anything becomes possible.
I am grateful to have found these wonderful soulful photographs by Elizabeth Gadd. They capture this moment of pause and reflection so beautifully.
“My path is the path of stopping, the path of enjoying the present moment. It is a path where every step brings me back to my true home. It is a path that leads nowhere. I am on my way home. I arrive at every step…”
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
In a day where I have a lot of commitments, may I go with the flow and stop along the way 🙂
Some days we tie ourselves up into knots of analysis and thinking.
Going around and around and making a fine mess, rather getting clarity or direction.
This mantra is a helpful reminder for me when I get into a tangle.
Keep coming back to the simple and let go of the complicated.
Keep coming back to your breath and find your middle ground.
Namaste
This is one of my favorite insights from from Alan Watts on awakening.
“What’s required is a sort of act of super relaxation…”
Thanks to Christopher over at Creative By Nature
“This is IT! So you don’t need to do anything at all… It’s just the way it is. What’s required is a sort of act of super relaxation.. It’s not just letting go. It’s being with yourself as you are without altering anything.” ~Alan Watts
“When you look for your own mind, that is to say, your own particularized center of being which is separate from everything else, you won’t be able to find it. But the only way you’ll know it isn’t there is if you look for it hard enough, to find out that it isn’t there.
And so everybody says ‘All right, know yourself, look within, find out who you are.’ Because the harder you look, you won’t be able to find it, and then you’ll realize it isn’t there at all. There isn’t a separate you. You’re mind is what there is. Everything. But the only way…
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This is a beautiful observation about what can happen when we find the quietness with us. When we find our Middle ground.
In this space is more than calming the mind or exploring our spiritual path, it is vital for our overall wellbeing.
Take time to pause in your day and find the quietness within.
“From the quietness, we can make healthier choices about our actions.
From choice comes freedom.
From freedom comes wholeness.
And wholeness is the state of yoga.”
From Judith Lasater’s “Living Your Yoga”
