June 1, 2024
Greetings yogis,
Starting this blog post with an excerpt from an untitled poem shared by a student:
I am a man who sits and sees, a breather who breathes and breathes. I soak the sun and drink from streams. My thoughts are nothing but dreams. The cloud clouds and the chair chairs, the bird birds and the bear bears. All this happens as I just be. Floating, grounded and free. - Kristoff Malejczuk
What an exhale to read something so sublime! A reminder to stop all the doing, projecting, chasing, expecting and simply… be. All too often we superimpose some idealized image onto ourselves of what we think we should be, or should be doing. According to who? When we're pretending, all we’re really doing is ruffling our own true essence, our svarupa. We’re so busy (too busy) keeping up with our neighbors, buying the stuff that’s being sold, climbing the ladders, painting our faces, making our plans and swirling in the whirlwind of it all that we forget how to be.
The fragmentation of our jittery, over-scheduled and distracted culture keeps us from this most sacred blessing. To just be. This is our true essence, without the need for any validating actions. Period. No labels, jobs, financial portfolios, specialized skills, admirable success, political opinions or affiliations. Just to be. When you can finally pause the incessant drive to produce, create, acquire, impress and prove, then the practice of yoga finally begins. Until we get there, it’s only more of the ego-pleasing process of doing.
Pause often. Become still and set aside the to-do list. You’ve come far enough, believe me. There’s nothing you need to prove to another. You’re already whole. Allow yourself to get quiet and let the mind become still, watch the layers of worry slough off. Just sit still for a moment, suspended in the breath. You’ve done enough.
I watch a red-tailed hawk soar higher and higher. The waves lap against the shore. I plunge into the cold Pacific waters and shiver in delight. Stop all the insanity and let yourself be from time to time. Fall in love over and over again with the present moment. Bask in the nothingness, it will undoubtedly blow your mind if you can truly see it for what it is.
May you all be at ease,
Nat K
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
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