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Do something everyday that scares you - this is the path of the student (and teacher)...

7/3/2012

2 Comments

 
Today, I"m going to start the phenomenal training experience of Off The Mat - Into the World. Check that as a  link if you don't know anything about it, well worth your time.

I've often offered that one of the primary differences that I see between the spiritual traditions of the East versus the West is that in the Western world, there is predominantly this idea of "original sin" - that we are born tainted and failed and that we must atone and repent. My take on the Eastern traditions is that they posit we are born in "original debt" and that for the privilege of being sentient and alive, we should give something of ourselves in betterment; you might say 'repay, not repent'.

So, like many folks are fond of saying, I also believe that to those whom much is given much is expected in return - another reminder to 'repay'. That's one of the reasons I've made my careers in Leadership and in the Service industries, and industries that favored right-livelihood and ethical behavior, as well as conscious capitalism.

I also believe in Seva - selfless service to the world. So, I' feel called to do this training, even though it will confront the darkest pieces of me, penetrate the shades and shadows and ask me to own all that I currently am. The work is intense, the process if intense, and the lovely leaders who will facilitate this process are not ones who will settle for less than engagement, or less than radical truth - I know, I've been blessed to call Seane Corn my teacher for some years now, and she is uncompromising in her pursuit of truth, of beauty, of connection and  of ultimately, helping each of us find our dharma. That's big work, there'll be breakthroughs and breakdowns, there'll be dancing and crying, and there'll be killer, subtle, propitiating flows... thoughts will be provoked, assumptions challenged, barriers shattered and lives changed. I get that.

Just yesterday I was emailing a friend who is about to depart on a big move and new adventure... I was expressing how proud I was of her, and how I thought that was an excellent opportunity for growth.. She responded she was nervous, anxious and excited - to which I offer, when those feelings are self-inflicted by chosen change, that is one of the supreme states of being. That's change, that's the monkey mind who likes the way it is going saying 'hold on there, yogi - let me make this feel awkward!"

It's the same experience teachers have when auditioning to get public classes for us - the new ones are invariably nervous (we all were!) and I love that. Not to make them uncomfortable, but rather because it shows investment. It shows honor for the practice and the students that the person cares enough to feel it. And, if you want to be a teacher, you've got to do the uncomfortable, that which scares you! How else can you lead confidently into and back out of the shadows if you don't know the way?

I'll be blogging about my experience and endeavoring to be brutally honest as I do, about me and my shades. It is the next 5 days, and in the middle of it, I'll be officiating a wedding, so I've got a lot to process!

Buckle up, give thanks and praise!

2 Comments
Cody link
7/3/2012 11:14:53 pm

...Getting onto the mat each and every day is a terrifying experience...Honestly, I'd rather do something else most of the time - at least that's where my mind goes before I take the plunge...And yet, not too long into a practice - any kind of practice - the mind relents somewhat and dare I say it, but joy (or at least a realignment of sorts) creeps in...and then it begins to build and the part of my mind that is still on during the later parts of the practice wonders how I could have NOT wanted to do this...

...Yoga practice (whatever that is for each and every person) holds tremendous potential for anyone that steps near to it (or into it) but there is terror - or sometimes worse, or sometimes less - in approaching the unknown and releasing expectations...

...Yoga is not the comfort of my morning coffee or the creative solace of my studio but it can be comforting in the sense that through the hard work and dedication (let's call that Tapas for now) a peacefulness can arise after facing what it is that each individual has to face when they're moving and breathing within the small confines of a 3'x6' 'yogic cage'...

...Yoga (to me, on some levels) is a process of 'clearing house' and any cleaning endeavor usually requires much energy, sometimes more than we think we can muster, and it's not all physical energy either as you know...In fact, while there is indeed intense physical engagement needed to protect and nourish the physical vessel during the process, the ineffable energy of will is needed more to guide you, to nudge you and to carry you forward into each new facet of your practice...And it's the will to anchor yourself in the moment, no matter how challenging, that allows you to face the things you'd rather not, but the knowledge that you need to see, forgive/accept and welcome back into yourself as that creates the tiny liberations needed to inch forward on our respective paths...

...In closing, I'll say this: When I first was learning these things and I was about to give my first (or one of my first) practice teaches in my training many years ago my teacher said something along these lines: What if the anxiety you are feeling right now could be felt as something other than what the mind is labeling it as? It's not anxiety - that's your mind attempting to define the amazing and pure energy that you entire being is flooded with right now...It's just that it's so much energy in comparison to what you're accustomed to, but your container is now growing and stretching (perhaps beyond what you'd call comfortable boundaries) so the process feels painful and the mind interprets this moment as anxiety and is averse to feeling this (whatever 'this' is)......Of course, all of that was me paraphrasing and truncating something that was a very potent lesson I received...Basically, in the end, we're just full of potential and tremendous energy and that energy wants to be free and then released from the places that retain it as trauma or wounding, but why the hell are we holding onto it? And better yet, why the hell are we holding ourselves back from our brilliance?...

...Step into the shadows, let's do this...

Reply
chrispy
8/3/2012 07:05:16 am

brother,

thanks for taking the time and care to express yourself so clearly, and in a way I was resonant with throughout. Really well spake, good man!

be well, thanks for chiming in, I'm better for it!

Reply



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