Spring into Non-Action (April 2019 Newsletter)

How hard and painfully we struggle through the winter months, waiting to welcome spring. How hard nature struggles to break through the earth. (Picture shows the force and determination of the young tulip leaves forcing through landscape mulch of various sorts taken just yesterday.) Giving birth is hard work; doing the work on oneself is harder yet. We tell ourselves, ‘I’ll get to it.’ At New Year’s we said the same thing; now it’s springtime and we are still getting to it! Look around you in nature, nothing waits. Yet nothing rushes. The Tao does nothing, but leaves nothing undone. Don’t try to force action. The Chinese term Wu Weiepitomizes this concept. Often our anxieties are caused by endless, meaningless action. Don't waste your life by being scattered by trying to participate in everything . Be systematic, be regular, be persistent. and have direction.

At the same time be soft and pliable like a young twig, which bends in half but doesn’t break. Change and switch your plans and directions as you need to. Nothing remains the same, and so our ‘plans’ need to develop and transform as needed. By doing this I am not letting down myself or anyone else. Things are different today and I must shift my focus just a little bit to keep my ultimate goal sharply in view. It's like focusing the lens of the telescope sharpening the focus but not losing sight of the goal.

When yoga becomes boring and nothing seems to be happening after the initial thrill of anticipation and expectation for the quick transformation of the body/mind into the lithe beautiful body that also transforms into a spiritual, distilled and calm being – that is the turning point. Bide with it. Ride the boredom or the difficulties or the aversion. Refer to Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, 1.14. Stay with it. The magic is right there; the magic is right here; the magic is right now. It is not magnificent. It is! Sa Aham! I am That!

Namaste,

sipra