Ultimate fullness or ultimate emptiness? I think I believe in the former rather than the latter, but is that a distinction without a difference? Certainly not one worth fighting over. Worthy, perhaps, though, of discussion and contemplation.
I wonder sometimes about signs that say every one is welcome. We might wish for that. We might believe it. But when someone shows up who scares us or who is radically different or is somehow distasteful, is the welcome really as full as the words?
A completely open welcome is a worthy goal, but I know that as much as I try to make more room in my heart for a wider range of beings, I have my limits. This wide open, embracing, honest welcome–a true recognition of the spirit in every being–is one of the most challenging of practices.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
John Friend tells us in teacher trainings that when we are observing students, start at the foundation. In order to help a student have the highest, most joyous and expansive experience in a pose, the foundation must be secure, aligned, and basically in the correct form. If the student does not already have a steady and aligned foundation, adjustments to other aspects of the pose will not well serve growth and understanding. When we are practicing on our own, starting with the foundation is also critical. If we do not make sure that we have the physical, energetic, and mental understanding of a pose, at best, we will have little appreciation for our practice and, at worst, risk injury.
Off the mat, the principle of starting with the foundation is even more important. If we do not teach all of our children basic reading, math, history, and civics, how can we have a functional democracy? If a house does not have a sturdy, well-built foundation, what is the point in spending lots of money decorating it? If we do not plant a seedling at a depth where it can be properly rooted and supported, how can it best flower and give fruit? If we do not provide all with adequate shelter, feed ourselves in a way that fosters both the environment and natural health, build an infrastructure that makes drinking water and breathable air for all, and have proper respect for the process of dying, how much true health care can come from privatized insurance, however regulated?
Paul Muller-Ortega, who is offering a meditation and philosophy workshop at Willow Street Yoga Center this weekend, says that sadhana (yoga practice, incuding meditation), doesn’t just give us “freedom from, but also freedom to.”
The “freedom from” is freedom from suffering. The freedom to” is freedom to move towards light and blissfulness.
When we first come to the yoga mat or meditation cushion, we are usually coming to discover the “freedom from” we have heard about — perhaps relief from aches and pains or disease, perhaps weight loss or improved body image, perhaps lowering anxiety or easing depression. We discover, when we start practicing, that even if we do not get “freedom from” exactly as hoped within a limited view, that discovery of the “freedom to” itself provides a “freedom from” by making that from which we seek freedom less prevailing as the focus of our being.
Last night, at the invitation of my massage therapist, I attended the third DC Ladies Arm Wrestling tournament at the American Legion Hall on Capitol Hill. For those of you who know me–or suspect from reading my blog that you know me to some degree–going to the American Legion Hall for an evening of betting on arm-wrestling might seem just a teensy-weensy bit out of character, perhaps even something beyond anything I could have “dreamt of in my philosophy.” Not so into wrestling or costumes or betting or bad beer or anything loud. I am, though, completely into norm-bending, outrageous manifestations of spirit, of which this certainly and rollickingly is one.
