Sooner or later, on this path towards awakening, you realize the inescapable necessity of practice. These words come from none other than Paul Muller-Ortega; although I'm quite certain these words have been uttered in many different languages throughout many lifetimes. You didn't think everything would just happen without actually making an effort, did you? The cosmic humor is prevalent when confronted with the mind's undoubted laziness towards its own discovery.
Many of us spend a fair amount of time making sure we look good as we move through the world. Our society is practically constructed around looking good. We buy fancy clothes and shoes to match outfits, wear makeup to enhance our appearance; we are virtually obsessed with our appearance and how we present ourselves in the public eye. So in order for the body to look good, we exercise and we eat consciously, we provide the body with rest, we give enough water to the body, and so on and so forth. All of these contributions we provide the body with in turn actually make us feel good. It completes our character, so to speak.
What makes you think the mind is any different? Surely by spending our time doing "mindless" activities, such as watching television, specifically the dramatic doom and gloom of news or pointless reality shows, can be remotely equated with feeding our bodies junk food, like a gluttonous beast devouring that which continues to distract us from our own true nature or a real sense of identity. I'm not suggesting that watching the news is the demise of mankind, nor am I implying that if you watch TV you are effectively poisoning the mind; although there is something to be said about spending ones time in the dramatic roller coaster of supposed entertainment. So many of us spend a good amount of our precious time being spoon fed aimless drama after drama of other people's lives, or programs lacking any substance, all in the name of comfort. I'd say this is the opposite of practice that I speak of. Who am I to speak about this? I'm an avid soccer fan and I jump at an opportunity to catch a Barcelona game, certainly the same could be said about the idea of watching sports. It is my intent to point out the obvious, of which I will not deny for my own guilty pleasure. Contradiction is an interesting paradox.
I feel it is important to recognize the value of practice. By practice, I mean the practice of mindfulness. Reading a book, writing in ones journal, meditation, taking a walk, all are several examples of mindfulness. The more one engages in these healthy activities for the mind, the more one begins to realize the necessity of practice. The mind, like the body, becomes a product of everything you feed it. It needs to be stimulated and nurtured, just like the body, in a variety of ways to enhance the well being of how we experience ourselves. This gentle reminder feels like a soft kiss, tender and compassionate, full of love and splendor. We are here to remember why we came here, so these gentle reminders often serve as guideposts on the path of life. Teachers provide guidance along the way, like road signs, since the detours of life tend to pull and drag us off the avenue towards happiness.
I just finished a yoga workshop which was another amazing weekend. For most of the workshop I was in my wheelchair observing the participants and their practice. What a unique perspective to view a room full of various levels of yogis and yoginis performing asana. It was incredibly helpful to watch the variety of shifts taking place all around me as the teacher instructed the participants. I practiced when I could, mostly very gentle poses and anything on the ground. Many thanks are due to Debra Sykes and Bonnie Kiser, owners of YogaHeart for the graciousness in both inviting me to attend, as well as hosting Jimmy Bernaert. Jimmy is a certified Anusara yoga instructor, in his 60's, who lives in Hawaii. He is an amazing teacher and the experience of his teachings was a true delight. One of his quotes that I found particularly inspiring was "Yoga is not about the pose." That line really runs deep for me. All too often we are so focused on perfecting the asana that we lose the joy and true nature of yoga. It's not about the pose. It's about the practice. He also mentioned the more you practice, the more you realize how much yoga is not about the pose. Of course, he managed to incorporate the importance of the alignment with the pose, as well as the anuasara principles. However, yoga is meant to be enjoyed. This can be difficult to embrace when one is holding a challenging posture or pose. When the corners of the mouth are lifted and the breath is full, enjoyment magically surges out from our core with relative ease.
Speaking of relative ease, my physical condition is improving dramatically. If you have been keeping up with this blog, you would know that I have been upgraded to crutches. I love this new found freedom of being able to be upright once again. I was so enthralled with this mobility I decided to walk down to the lake yesterday. Those of you who have been to my place, know the distance it takes to get to the lake. Basically there are two options, 185 stairs to walk down (and then of course back up), or about a 1/4 mile gradual descent to make it to the lake. I chose the latter, on crutches, for my walk. Only half of the route is paved, the rest is fairly rocky. I didn't plan on going all the way to the lake, it just kind of happened that way. The further I got away from my house, the more thrilling the adventure become. I like to be a little adventurous from time to time, and I was anxious for a challenge, so this fulfilled my dare devil desire. Once again I realized that if I fell, I'd be in serious, serious trouble. Needless to say I decided to take it slow, steady, and easy. I did manage to make it all the way to the lake, and even went a little further to "my spot". I have a little sacred spot, where a small creek flows into the lake, that I enjoy sitting and contemplating from. I was overwhelmed with joy upon my arrival to this spot as it holds a very special place in my heart. Not only did I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment, I felt immersed in bliss.
The walk down to the lake was more difficult than the walk back up. My left leg was actually shaking by the time I reached the sacred spot. I still am not bearing any weight on my right leg, other than a simulation of walking. Going back up the incline I felt supported by both my experience and my core strength. Physical therapy has aided greatly in my recovery, I have doing pool sessions two days a week with various movements. I sometimes feel like I am 95 years old while in the pool, partly due to the age of those around me in the pool and partly due to the fact that I am doing very basic movements that wear me out. Today as I was treading water, my therapist would throw a beach ball at me while I would then struggle to throw it back. I quickly became aware of the rather quick exhaustion of a simple exercise. And then I was using a kick-board to swim across the pool and I was literally not moving. My mind had me believing there was a secret current keeping me from propelling across the pool. Its simply baffling how difficult some of the simplest activities, in theory, can be.
It will not be long before I'll be rocking laps in the pool like Mark Spitz going for gold. Until then, I'll be treading water in the deep end of the pool. That's pretty much been a metaphor for my recovery process- I'm just treading water and staying afloat, vicariously imagining the days when I'll be back to walking on water again. It will not be long. I'm off to a Reiki workshop over the weekend. Yet again I have been invited to attend. How wonderful it is to have people in my life that care so much about my well being.
Thanks for reading. Don't forget about that inescapable necessity of practice. We all want to look good, right? Feeling good is pretty fun too. You know the drill :)
In light and love,
andino
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