Yoga club members have all been sent the winter newsletter and I trust it encourages all to maintain or start their daily meditation practise. Only by giving oursleves the space and time to look within can we live authentically and fully in this rapidly changing world. Poets have a way of putting truths so simply:
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Yoga is now a popular 'activity' and the definiton of what yoga 'is' has become diverse according to whoever is offering it as a class or study group or whatever. It has become even more important to choose wisely where one goes or what one reads to get an understanding of this wonderful spiritual practise.
It may be that yoga will return again into an individual seeker just sitting and watching the breath and where the breath leads him/her. Reading the original works may offer an awareness although they too have commentaries or explanations of the meaning of the truths passed down from sages. It takes great discipline and strength of mind to listen to our own intuition and interpretation of the insights. It is wise to learn from great sages but it is also wise to be discerning. They are many strong characters and good speakers who can impress us with their knowledge and expertise so that we let them take the responsibility for what we believe. Belief is not enough. We need to know. To know deeply in our gut what is true and what is false.
We cannot blame another for following their 'orders'. That time, that excuse has passed now. We will be held accountable for our actions. We always have been held accountable according to the law of Karma but it is so much more real now that we have so much given to us to learn and expand.
Two decades ago I watched Fragile Earth on the TV showing the devastation in store and already occuring in our environment due to our disregard for nature and the vast majority of people were generally uninterested. Now as areas flood or the earth quakes in anger a few more are listening. Self interest may get things done in some areas but it is only the expansion of our minds to see 'all as one' that will get the bigger problems resolved which ironically will give us more sustainability in our little lives.
Therefore, meditation or even just quiet spaces in our lives to reflect are not a waste of time. We do not have to be busy to feel we are living fully or relaxing to unwind to get busy again. Expand awareness by setting aside regular times morning and evening to reflect on your day and then perhaps on a poem, or a sutra, or a teaching or some music which resounds in your deeper being. Find a group who are seeking the same deeper meaning of life and share some of your insights to spark some more questions. If you are still finding questions then you are expanding your awaresness.......you are fresh and innocent. If you think you have found the answer then beware! Ramana Maharshi advises us to always say "not this" when we get an answer. We seem to want answers to feel safe. However, we will only feel truly safe and free of fear when we do not attach to anything material and of this world because all here is of the nature to change. There are no answers to the big things..only questions. Answers create more doctrines and set beliefs which cause more devisions and conflicts...my truth is better than your truth.. My Yoga is better than your Yoga!
I wish you all a year of insightful living in each moment.
Om shanti, shanti, shanti,
Sammi
What is a reflection and what is real?
.jpg)