Hello Friends,
Take a moment, before you read on, to just notice the present moment. Are you breathing? Are you okay with it? Are you feeling rushed and hectic? Or calm and still? Whatever this moment is like for you, just pause and be with it. That’s all.
Ok. So what did you notice?
Because our lives are so jam-packed with things to do, we often relate to the present moment (if we even notice it) as a means to an end. Or, maybe it seems like an obstacle; we’re trying to get somewhere, and this – whatever is happening – is preventing me from getting there.
Believe me, I pulled myself out of bed on many, many graduate school days with this mantra: “I just need to make it through this day.”
What I was forgetting, and what is so easy to forget, is that the present moment is Life itself.
This is what Mary Oliver urges us to remember, by writing, in “Wild Geese”:
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.
This is life.
It was about six years ago that I met Peter Francyk, one of the most influential teachers I’ve learned from so far. I had started my own business earlier that year, and my daughter had been born shortly after that. I wasn’t able to “practice” the way I used to, by going to a power or flow class for 90 minutes every day. I did not have the luxury of that kind of time any more. I complained about this to Peter. And I felt embarrassed and lacking in my practice. I found myself wanting to “get through” my current circumstances so I could “get back” to the kind of practice I wanted.
With an attitude of hostility toward the present moment, life reflected animosity back to me.
Peter advised me to make being with my daughter my practice.
Because that is Life, my life.
When I approached being with my daughter as an obstacle to my practice, I suffered periods of resentment and sadness.
When I approached being with my daughter as my practice, I did not resent missing my “practice” in order to be with her. The present moment opened up as a space for joy.
That is life.
With an attitude of curiosity and interest toward the present moment, life reflected fascination and delight back to me.
I believe that this is what it means to have a Life Practice.
My life practice stretches back to my childhood. But it was not until I met Peter that I began to consciously cultivate it in a deeper way. This kind of practice crosses over and inspires Yoga, martial arts, Chi Gong, Jin Shin Jyutsu, horseback riding, hiking, whatever “practice” you’re doing.
Because whatever practice you are doing, and whatever you’re complaining – or praising – about and preoccupied with, meanwhile the wild geese are flying overhead somewhere, and this is part of the present moment too.
Can the present moment get that big for you? (I know it can, or I wouldn’t ask.)
And if you can touch that vastness, right now in this moment, what does that feel like for you?
Do you have a Life Practice alongside whatever physical practice interests you these days?
Namaste,
Erin
p.s. If you’re interested in cultivating a Life Practice like this, reply with “101” in the subject line. I’ll send you the info for my new program Living Joyfully 101, starting in just a few weeks! Read on for details.
And if you relate to this week’s letter, hit reply to share stories from your own experience. I love hearing from you. You can also send me an email at: radiantenergyforlife@gmail.com