Slowly exhale summer
Savor and anchor
Seasonal changes, like what we are now on the cusp of, can be smoother with anchors to help us ground in the midst of extremes that throw us off balance. Living with external and internal extremes is our norm; however, Yoga's premise has been, is and will always be the establishment of more manageable, personally healthier bandwidths. A temporary anchor in daily practice yields a safe haven for the generation of acceptance and resilience in the midst of flux that life brings.
Patanjali, at gross glance, presents a pessimistic view on change, that it causes suffering, even for the wisest amongst us. It’s a sobering reality that connects all of humanity. Change causes suffering, and it’s indicated as the first cause, rendering it a significant contributing factor.
Now you see it, now you don’t. Now you have it, now you don’t. Your pain was stable or improving, now it’s worse. You’ve always been healthy, now you have been diagnosed with something. You think you are pregnant, you get your period. You’re pregnant, you miscarry. You’re in relationship that doesn’t align with your values and personal goals. You’ve had a healthy streak, your throat hurts, a virus takes you down. You are leaning on something, then it disappears. Mortgage interest rates go up. You love, you lose. You progress, hit a hurdle, regress. Your gas bill goes up, you get a flat tire, you’re late for work and get stuck behind a funeral procession. The job you interview twice for falls through. One day you are swimming, the next you are wearing pants and long sleeves.
Don’t get too down, because there’s a subtle twist. Change needn’t necessarily yield suffering. Disclaimer: there is no escaping the realization that we are suffering, we can’t bypass duhkham with whatever it is we do to avoid feeling our discomfort, for long. Once we allow ourselves to feel the duhkham, even welcome it, spend quality time with it, we are on our way experience it anew. If we can even ever-so-slightly separate ourselves from the emotional, mental and behavioral tendencies that arise in the face of change, we may move the needle as to how we hold, carry and release its impact on our existence.
Awareness activated, both the duration of that suffering and the depth are also subject to change, as is the way you perceive and process it. Not automatically and not without specific efforts, impermanence is one of the reasons Yoga actually works: we, like everything else, are subject to transformation. Interventions are intended to alter our trajectory in that direction. Permanence is the other reason Yoga works. There’s a permanent presence within we can activate to steady ourselves in the midst of massive fluctuations…as long as we are acquainting with it during ordinary ones.
Like inhaling and exhaling. Like expanding and contracting. Raising and lowering. Bending and straightening. Opening and closing. Moving and pausing. The breath-centric focus keeps us riding waves of movement and stillness, ever acquainting with change’s ability to catalyze an adaptability previously locked in our conditioning.
Can we be suffering yet stable? Transitioning with greater ease between our favorite season (projecting here) and fall? Progressing and distraught? Losing our #$*! and on our way to brighter pastures? Of course. Stability starts with a firm commitment to linking to a regular practice, so we have an anchor meanwhile life takes us for these rides, to support a safe journey home, to our heart.