"There's a part of every living thing that wants to become itself: the tadpole into the frog, the chrysalis into the butterfly, a damaged human being into a whole one. That is spirituality."-
Ellen Bass
I just got done watching this amazing video of Arthur. I hope you can take the time to watch it too. It'll take just about 5 minutes of your life and after watching it three times myself, I can say it's worth it.
Arthur's story reminds me of the yogic concept of Tapas, or discipline on the path of yoga. To me Tapas is the energy required to remain open in our hearts and minds, rather than close down and withdraw from life, when struggle, challenge, limitation, and resistance manifest in our life. Tapas helps us to remain strong in our spiritual practice and cultivate resilience to face our obstacles with courage.
I believe that opening (courage) and closing (retreating) are like seeds we can sow in our psyche. We choose moment to moment what we water and therefore what we grow in every choice we make. We make these choices in little decisions, and it's the little decisions that reinforce our habitual responses that fuel our actions when larger struggles and challenges arise in our lives.
For many, the choice to become complacent, bitter, sour, or down right resentful in the face of life's struggles is all too often a default and habitual response--because it's a seed we have watered along our path many times. Think of these little moments such as the times when you know you want to meditate and yet you get home and you reach for the beer instead. You want to go to yoga, and yet you stay in bed to sleep in and go to brunch. You're presented with a challenging pose in your yoga practice and rather than try, your story line of "I can't do this, I'm not strong enough, or I don't want to" comes up and you go to the bathroom, or rather than keep trying you indulge in self sabotaging and discouraging thoughts- getting down on yourself and practicing in a way that is aggressive guilt-ridding and hurtful to yourself.
In each of these moments a choice between opening and closing is being given to us. With skillful and compassionate awareness we can begin to train ourselves to catch these moments of opening and closing and interrupt the cycle of habitual response. The bad news is that many of us have been reinforcing our habitual response of closing for years. The good news is that in every situation we have a choice and we can begin to make new choices and therefore water the right seeds so that when the big challenges come our way we are ready to respond from a more courageous and open place that is fresh and free from habitual response.
This training requires Tapas. Without commitment to keep returning to our practice, returning to our breath we will inevitably return to our habitual response and stories that keep us hooked and stuck in behaviors and patterns that do not serve us and which contribute to our suffering. That being said, not doing the habitual thing can be unnerving, uncomfortable, and down right hard. We discover that we have found a sort of safety in staying stuck in our stories, even if they hold us back.
In her book Taking The Leap, Pema Chodron writes that when we catch ourselves biting the hook and entering into habitual response that there is something we can do to get unstuck. Step one is to acknowledge your hooked. Simply notice and be with the feeling. That is power in and of itself, to have awareness that we're riding the wave of an energy/thought that's going to take us into a habitual response. Step two is to pause and take three deep conscious breaths and lean in. Lean in to the energy and abide with it. Experience it as fully as you can through the vehicle of all your senses--get to know the energy intimately. She likens this to getting to know the itch and urge to move into habit (scratch) and just breathe into it without acting it out--not letting yourself get seduced or entranced by it. You have open and compassionate awareness. Step three, you relax and you move on. You do this over and over again every time you feel yourself getting pulled into a frenzy. Rather than feed your irritation, anger, rage, bitterness, etc.. Begin these steps and see if you can create some space. The more you do this with small things--like traffic, or poses you don't like--the more you can do it with the large things--like turning your life around after a lifetime of habitual response!
Blessings to you!
Arthur's story reminds me of the yogic concept of Tapas, or discipline on the path of yoga. To me Tapas is the energy required to remain open in our hearts and minds, rather than close down and withdraw from life, when struggle, challenge, limitation, and resistance manifest in our life. Tapas helps us to remain strong in our spiritual practice and cultivate resilience to face our obstacles with courage.
I believe that opening (courage) and closing (retreating) are like seeds we can sow in our psyche. We choose moment to moment what we water and therefore what we grow in every choice we make. We make these choices in little decisions, and it's the little decisions that reinforce our habitual responses that fuel our actions when larger struggles and challenges arise in our lives.
For many, the choice to become complacent, bitter, sour, or down right resentful in the face of life's struggles is all too often a default and habitual response--because it's a seed we have watered along our path many times. Think of these little moments such as the times when you know you want to meditate and yet you get home and you reach for the beer instead. You want to go to yoga, and yet you stay in bed to sleep in and go to brunch. You're presented with a challenging pose in your yoga practice and rather than try, your story line of "I can't do this, I'm not strong enough, or I don't want to" comes up and you go to the bathroom, or rather than keep trying you indulge in self sabotaging and discouraging thoughts- getting down on yourself and practicing in a way that is aggressive guilt-ridding and hurtful to yourself.
In each of these moments a choice between opening and closing is being given to us. With skillful and compassionate awareness we can begin to train ourselves to catch these moments of opening and closing and interrupt the cycle of habitual response. The bad news is that many of us have been reinforcing our habitual response of closing for years. The good news is that in every situation we have a choice and we can begin to make new choices and therefore water the right seeds so that when the big challenges come our way we are ready to respond from a more courageous and open place that is fresh and free from habitual response.
This training requires Tapas. Without commitment to keep returning to our practice, returning to our breath we will inevitably return to our habitual response and stories that keep us hooked and stuck in behaviors and patterns that do not serve us and which contribute to our suffering. That being said, not doing the habitual thing can be unnerving, uncomfortable, and down right hard. We discover that we have found a sort of safety in staying stuck in our stories, even if they hold us back.
In her book Taking The Leap, Pema Chodron writes that when we catch ourselves biting the hook and entering into habitual response that there is something we can do to get unstuck. Step one is to acknowledge your hooked. Simply notice and be with the feeling. That is power in and of itself, to have awareness that we're riding the wave of an energy/thought that's going to take us into a habitual response. Step two is to pause and take three deep conscious breaths and lean in. Lean in to the energy and abide with it. Experience it as fully as you can through the vehicle of all your senses--get to know the energy intimately. She likens this to getting to know the itch and urge to move into habit (scratch) and just breathe into it without acting it out--not letting yourself get seduced or entranced by it. You have open and compassionate awareness. Step three, you relax and you move on. You do this over and over again every time you feel yourself getting pulled into a frenzy. Rather than feed your irritation, anger, rage, bitterness, etc.. Begin these steps and see if you can create some space. The more you do this with small things--like traffic, or poses you don't like--the more you can do it with the large things--like turning your life around after a lifetime of habitual response!
In Arthur's case he had watered his seeds a long time, and one day he decided to interrupt his story of I can't, I won't, it's impossible. Look what happened. Do you have an issue that feels like you're stuck in a habit? Your practice can help you to wake up, or it can reinforce habits to keep you asleep. Yoga and meditation done without consciousness is the same as anything else done the same way. Every breath and movement is an opportunity to open or close. What seeds are you watering when challenges arise in your practice? Notice this as
you engage in your practice this week and see if you can cultivate the resiliency needed to remain open in your practice. Remain open, no matter what arises whether a challenge, struggle, or ease and say yes to life no matter what! Honor your struggles, as without them you would never know how rich, deep and alive your life can really be.Blessings to you!
