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My yoga class the other day was exquisite. There was a particular effortlessness to the practice. Arriving at each asana, I felt an increased physical expansion as each breath filled the body more completely. Instantly, the pose lit up. Time stopped and all efforting ceased. I was held, supported by the light in a kind suspended animation. Such joy! My practice became a prayer of gratitude to the Divine, for life, for love, for the beauty of existence!
Then, leaving the yoga studio and reentering the world from this newly expanded place, I noticed all my senses were heightened, and a profound silence enveloped me. My attention was drawn to the trees lining the city street, and to the breeze gently swaying their branches. I was captivated by the moment, feeling Eternity calling me – calling me home to Self, to Oneness, to my divine nature.
You too have probably had glimpses of this Oneness, this peace, especially in nature. It was natural that my awareness was called to the wind and the trees when I left the yoga studio the other day. Nature pulses with this divine light. In truth, we all do, but in nature form is pure and pristine unencumbered by the veils that mask this radiance in us. Outside the buzz and chaotic energy of the city, we are drawn to nature and open spaces because we find solace there, and healing and rejuvenation – because in it we are connected to this Oneness that is our very nature.
Think of that remote spot you love to go to in the mountains or the forest. Ah, fresh air at last! You breath in deeply, relaxing into the scene. The mind becomes quiet and, within the stillness, Divine Presence expresses itself through the forms of the world: The wind’s exhale delicately wafts through the trees, and the leaves respond in a ripple of delight – so effortlessly, so inevitably. So lovely! You can appreciate the experience because a part of you recognizes this Presence. You resonate with it because it is in you. It is you! Breathing in deeply once again, you are drawn more completely into present moment. You relax, perhaps laying back on some grass, and your attention is called upward to powder blue sky, and within this expanse – billowy white cumulus clouds, so soft, so yin – gently moving – so effortlessly, so inevitably. You are entranced by this shape shifting visual delight! Heart feels full as it opens to the light that is within and that is without. This light is everywhere. It is all there is – light, Divine Presence, the Oneness that we are.
A student recently asked me what she could do about feelings of apathy, meaninglessness and desolation.
These heavy, dense emotions feel terrible and our first instinct is to run away from them – to not feel them. We may do this by distracting ourselves, by getting really busy or, perhaps, by self-medicating in some way. This is a mistake. By ignoring our feelings we actually allow them to dig a deeper groove in our psyche and in the body. In truth all emotions exist as a field of energy – an energy vibration held in the subtle body and the physical body and activated by thought. If we avoid feeling our emotions, the disturbance will eventually manifest in the physical, as a physical imbalance and an ailment of some kind. The solution is the willingness to witness any negative emotion that arises as a sensation in the body – simply as a vibratory field of energy. What typically happens, though, is that the mind intervenes. The ego/mind wants to tell a story about the source of the pain – to blame some one, or to blame some external event for causing the pain, or to feel sorry for itself. But this only exacerbates the suffering. With the willingness to experience our emotions directly and to expose them to the light of Truth, they will leave.
Our pure awareness is the light of the divine, and when we bring this awareness and attention directly to bear on the source of our discomfort in the body, this light acts like a laser beam, burning through the disturbance to reveal what is always there – the ground of being – vast eternal Oneness – and the source of our true peace.
To begin this exploration find a comfortable meditative position, or alternatively, lie on the floor on your back, arms resting comfortably at your sides, palms up, legs slightly apart with your feet relaxed and resting outwards. In yoga, this is the classic savasana pose. Take some deep relaxing breaths and bring your attention into your body. Notice any physical sensations. See if you can find the emotional pain you are feeling in the body. There is a corrolation. It can be sensed as a knot of coiled energy, a tingling sensation, or a churning tumultuous feeling, or perhaps an area of intense heat or pressure. Allow your awareness to meet the sensation directly. Feel. Notice if your mind wants to co-opt the process by telling a story about it, and let this go. Come back to sensation. Stay with it. It may want to move or morph into a different shape, or take on a different tonality. Track it as it moves or changes. Focus your lens of pure awareness directly on the source of your discomfort. Allow it to burn away.
You will soon find that which seemed to have so much substance, to be nothing at all! Take some deep relaxing breaths and enjoy this new found spaciousness. It is this spaciousness that is your true nature, and the field within which all emotions pass.
