For this past week’s intention I was watching how the universe was always sending me messages and how they were so beautifully woven into each other:
During our “Sunday Morning Special” class Patrick talked about how asana, postures, are a constant push and pull with gravity.
And then I went over to find that Liz Moyer’s reflection prompt inside her company, ‘We Heal for All’, was the following:
What teachings lie in the micro movements?
So often when I’m in the midst of transition I notice that I want to be on the other side already. I want to be done with the dance, to be on solid ground. I hold my breath and power through with my sight set on what’s ahead. While it’s an understandable approach, I wonder what I might be missing?
The invitation that comes to me in this reflection is to see if in the midst of transition I can slow myself down enough to notice the micro moments within it all? Can I practice being present with the sensations and discomfort that come with being pushed and pulled within the change? And if I can, what does that offer me? What teachings lie in the micro moments within transitions that are key to where I’m meant to land next?”
What beautiful reflection prompts.
*Hint: Save the Date of Dec. 12, for an experience with Liz and myself and our dear friend, Anthony Purdy! 😉
And the insightful and intuitive hits kept coming from the Source when I read inside Emma Poole’s blog, this Elizabeth Gilbert quote:
“Just as they exist in writing a literal truth and a poetic truth, they’re also exists in a human being a little anatomy and a poetic anatomy. One, you can see; One, you cannot. One is made of bones and teeth and flesh; The other is made of energy and memory and faith. But they are both equally true.”
It’s incredible to me, how Elizabeth Gilbert names prana without naming it directly. The energy and memory and faith.
In somatics work we speak all the time about how the stories and the knowings are in the tissues of our body, our physical body.
Take a moment, dear reader, take a sacred pause with me:
Find a comfortable position, as comfortable as you can find for your physical body at this moment. Close your eyes and take a couple of breaths. What are you feeling in your body? What are you noticing? Is there discomfort in a certain area, do you want to wiggle and move? Is there great comfort in a part of your body, or even all over? Is it easy to mentally slow down enough to notice your physical sensations? Or is it challenging to try to bring your awareness into this moment? Without judging, can you just be in this experience of this moment?
Now, take another breath, and feel what’s present now for you, your physical body, your emotions, and your thoughts. How is the quality of your energy now, versus before taking this sacred pause? This energy, your life force, prana, is the ‘energy, memory, and faith’ that Elizabeth Gilbert was talking about. You have the ability to control it, move it, guide it, and also listen to what it is sharing with you.
Take the time to connect with your energy and your Self each day. No matter how hard it might feel, just breathe. Perhaps nothing comes of it, that’s ok. And then, perhaps on another day, it’s the changing factor and micro-moment from which things will begin to shift towards the positive. And this can be one entry point of which you love yourself, but more on that “gentle approach” next week.
Slowly moving on…
I have been continually struck by this quote for most of my adult life:
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are, quite literally, impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate states.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new; And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some states of instability – And that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you. Your idea will mature gradually – Let them grow. Let them share themselves, without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on as though you could be today what time will make you tomorrow (That is to say, Grace and circumstances acting on your own goodwill).
Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.”
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)
My Contemplation on Purna i.e being whole))
As I hear that word, incomplete, I think to the Sanskrit vibration ‘purna’, meaning whole. I also think to one of my most favorite mantras, the purna mantra, listen here. As one of the teachers I follow on YouTube, Sri M, explains and listen to the vibration as he recites it at the start of the video! The essence of this purna mantra is that one into one, is one. We are always whole, and full in the essence that is unchanging within us. We are always the constant steady stream of light and love.
Now, I am not arguing with Mr. Chardin here, I am simply inviting contemplation. What makes us feel that we are not complete, whole, and worthy as we are? Usually the mind.
And so, yes, I can except the feeling of suspense and being comfortable in the uncomfortable of the unknown. I am human, I cannot see what is next. And so I can accept and be content here in the now. (Reminds me of our most recent Sunday morning special class and how we talked about Santosa, and contentment.)
I can use the offering of my presence to each moment, to myself, and to others, to be able to notice these micro movements of life and these micro moments in which perhaps I will find and see the insights as to where I am meant to be. Perhaps these micro moments will remind me that I’m already right where I’m meant to be.
Can you slow down enough to be the witness? To see your fullness? To catch the insights that the universe is sharing with you and guiding you on your path?
Can you trust that it is with you? To trust this spirit forming within you? Can you trust your timing?
And that is why with this intention a constantly was inviting practitioners to trust their timing. To trust the tempo at which their body wanted to move in practice at that moment. Could they trust the rhythms in which they felt life moving through them? Could they feel those rhythms, and can they feel the timing, tempo, and rhythm of the dance?
Could they just offer themselves, and the moment, their presence?
When we offer our presents to a moment we are better able to see the gifts and guidance of Source.
How the intention of this entire class came to be is proof of that. Thanks to all my friends and collaborators whose wisdoms kept being shown to me to make this moment happen!
Love to all,
Shawna 
Breathe and Believe.