Good morning,
Happy Sunday,
March 29th,
2020.
There's nothing I wouldn't give at this moment for a sense of comfort to be gathering together back at the yoga shala in Calgary,
Speaking to you all as you're resting,
Maybe in child's pose or on your back and preparing us with an intention to begin to practice our physical asana together,
To breathe together,
To move together,
To support each other with our breath and to know that we're there if anyone needs us.
We get these calls to awakening often throughout our life.
They're big things,
Things that literally touch every aspect of our life,
A divorce,
An end of a long relationship,
A death,
An illness.
Something comes along and knocks us to our knees.
We have the option to step forward into uncertainty,
Into a new future,
To know that it won't be easy knowing that we'll stumble and fall again or we can go back,
Back to what we know,
Recreate it again in a new relationship or in a new way in whatever way.
But yet there's a comfort in doing what we know and doing it again and again.
There is not a good or bad or a right or wrong decision in anything in life.
There is a bit of everything.
The mind doesn't do well with that paradox,
But that's where the growth is.
That's where the compassion is.
In most of these calls to awakening,
We feel quite alone like no one else knows what we're going through,
But yet we've all been in one of those moments.
What's different about this call to awakening is that no one,
No one in the whole world is missing this call to awakening.
It's happening.
All of us are so connected.
If you ever doubted that,
You see that now.
It's okay to be afraid.
That's okay.
Just remember however messy this is for you and how you might be acting out of alignment because I know I have done a few things already that I wish I had done otherwise,
But it's messy and that's okay.
We're stumbling forward.
So I offer this to you.
Take it as you wish.
Use it for your own peace,
I hope.
Where there is love,
There is no fear.
Where there is fear,
There is no love.
I realize love is the power that heals me and everyone around me.
Love is my life,
My sustenance.
If I want to receive love,
I must give it.
Reciprocity keeps the flow of love alive.
This next reading I share with you is one of the probably the second reading I ever read in class many,
Many years ago.
It's the first thing that came into my mind as all of this started to unfold.
A fear enters our mind.
Our mind takes it and runs with it.
Something bad is going to happen.
Something terrible and traumatic is on its way.
We quickly review the traumas of our past and quickly make the determination that yes,
It is very possible this devastating event will happen.
As we sit,
Crushed in the present moment,
Full of fear and dread,
We worry that the worst that could possibly happen probably will.
We begin to believe that it is most likely waiting at our doorstep,
Ready to pounce on us and steal our peace,
Our joy,
Our rhythm in the universe.
Because we've harbored the fear so intensely,
It has already manifested itself.
The thing we fear doesn't need to happen.
It already has,
Or it might as well have because we are already forcing ourselves to live through it.
Yes,
Many awful things have happened to us,
And we're very sorry that happened,
But that doesn't mean we have to give up the beauty of the present moment to something that hasn't happened yet.
Even if it does happen in the future,
By harboring the fear,
We have lived through it twice.
Recognize and release your fear.
Do not let the fear of what if ruin the joy of what is.
So as you go out into your Sunday,
Could you for just a moment not miss this opportunity,
Not miss this present moment,
To find gratitude,
To fill your heart and your mind with all that is positive about what's happening right now.
The whole world is shut down,
A few weeks ago none of us could have imagined this.
I know here in DC for the first time,
I hear birds in the morning chirping.
I've never heard that here.
I often hear garbage trucks and yelling and cars honking.
Never will the streets be like this.
Go out when you can and walk.
Breathe deeply.
See the sights and the sounds.
Nature is so healing.
Hug your children,
Those that are close to you,
That you're allowed to hug still and for now.
When else can you play in the middle of the day?
When else are you all together?
When else other than your vacation do you lose track of the day?
Take it all in.
Don't miss this.
So much love.
Namaste.
