Meet me in the field

“Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.When the soul lies down in this grass,the world is too full to talk about.”–Rumi

This quote came to me from my teacher at (as these things tend to) just the time I needed to hear it. Reflecting on my issues with commitments (relationships, jobs, even difficult yoga postures) the idea of seeking such a field has been truly enlightening as to how to work through these issues. I’ve done some self-study to determine I’m situationally claustrophobic.

Once a situation becomes familiar or rote, I begin to panic that I will be stuck there indefinitely. I crave change, challenge, movement — and that’s a pretty good thing, since we know life never does truly stay stagnant.

The idea of being present in a field has been very helpful to me. It’s an image that helps me feel set outside of expectations and “supposed-tos” in a way that is so very freeing and yet centering at the same time. I can be in a place (metaphorically speaking) where I am neither trapped nor floating about aimlessly. I can be in the field, and live my life very much present in that field, and still enjoy all of the continuation of life in that field — the blowing breeze, the changing clouds.

This is helping me to stay in challenging poses longer, too. This idea that it’s best to make a situation a process rather than a stagnant thing is challenging me to keep developing in arm balances and inversions past the point of “ok I got that one” to “maybe I can keep evolving in this shape, staying longer because it doesn’t get boring the more present I am in the execution of this pose”. Pretty neat stuff.

The dharma this week is pretty good on this concept (by the way you can catch just the dharma below the main video if that’s all you wanna watch, it’s got a cue for meditation as well). Then the movement explores that idea of being truly present, and also works out the upper back and shoulders to prepare for some really interesting play with props. I recommend getting a nice stack of big books or an aerobics step if you don’t have a couple of yoga blocks around the house. I also recommend plastering a big ol’ smile on your face right from the get-go because we’re gonna have a great time once you go ahead and hit “play”.

Cheers, yo!

-*- Namaste -*-

April

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~*~*~*~*~*~ Full practice ~*~*~*~*~*~

~*~*~*~*~*~ Dharma Talk ~*~*~*~*~*~

~*~*~*~*~*~ Dolphin with props ~*~*~*~*~*~

~*~*~*~*~*~ Wheel with props ~*~*~*~*~*~