I feel like I am in a little place of peace right now in my life. No, I don’t know anything. Where we are going. Why we do the things that we do. Why our perspective is the way it is and how it got there. Every single person is so different from the other. Every single, individual being is unique. I’ve been telling my little yoga/mindful movement group about this very concept. Not necessarily about our perspective on life which is compiled of years and years of unique experiences and interactions and people that help to contribute to that completely individual perspective of the universe in its entirety.
~”It’s as if you had a light, covered with a black ball, and in this ball were pinholes, and each pinhole is an aperture through which the light comes out. So in that way every one of us is actually a pin hole, through which the fundamental light—that is the existence itself—looks out.” -Alan Watts ~
Rather, we have been talking about the physical idea of uniqueness in our bodies. Yes, we can use an anatomy book as a guide for the general structure of our body. We can learn the connection points and muscle functions but when it comes down to it we are a completely unique physical form. We are an organic material grown in the womb of another organic being whose choices and actions and even the stress they’re under have a significant impact on how that organic material is formed. The foods we eat and the way we interact with our own body impact the way our systems function and perform. The tumbles and falls we’ve experienced in our lifetime rearrange the structure of our physical form. Our unique gait and repetitive motions cause muscle imbalances. A million unique factors all combine beautifully throughout the course of our lives to create a completely unique and one-of-a-kind organically grown being! So ultimately, my practice is my own, it is also one-of-a-kind. No one else’s practice will look like mine. There is no, “it’s supposed to look like this,” or “it’s supposed to feel like this.” My warrior pose is mine and mine alone and only I can discover what that means to me by going on the journey, by deciding to practice and understand what warrior means to me, what it feels like in my own joints and in my own skin and ultimately, I’m my own life. As long as we can hold a position or a variation thereof, using whatever tools we need to, to be “comfortable and stable,” as the Yoga Sutras claim, then we are right, we are doing yoga!
Warriors.
All of this can be a direct metaphor for life I think, as I always think, haha. “Yoga” and “life” are interchangeable as words for me on a daily basis, as well as “position/posture” and “opinion.” We are all on this path to bliss. We are all trying to find what makes us happiest every single day. Who am I to judge what that looks like for an individual? Who am I to say that their posture or position or opinion should look or be this way, should be the same as mine? It’s true, some outlooks on life help to catapult us into productivity, learning and growth. Some outlooks on life tend to keep us still, stagnating in the waters of monotony, but all paths and journeys are seeking the same peak of enlightenment at the top of the mountain of life. Some people will make very small, struggled steps, spiraling around a tightly wound path up the mountain that exhausts them and they may even die trying to reach their bliss without ever truly finding it while some take this direct path to the top, expelling minimal effort to get there and they seem to get there long before the crowd does. Just as our physical, organically grown form is unique to each individual, so is our path or journey of life. It takes into account every piece of advice we’ve ever heard and taken to heart. It takes into account every time someone spoke words of encouragement, inspiring us to own our reality and it takes into account every time someone spoke hurtful words, slighting us and making us question what it’s all about and doubt whether we are good enough to continue on. Our path takes into account every time we’ve tumbled and fell along the way or been tripped up by an obstacle. Our path takes into account every input that creates a perspective and outlook on this world but I believe all paths are seeking the top of that mountain where we can stand up and say, “I made it,” “I get it,” “this is what it’s all about,” “this is the point to it all.”
The path is clear.
I think I am on a good path with a good perspective. It is my own. It is beloved to me. It teaches me and guides me and yet I also have the power to guide it, changing course when I feel like I’m walking in circles. Ultimately, I adore this life. I am eager to learn all I can within this short venture of existence and I am hit in the heart every day with the reality of our very mortality as a human being. Even though that sounds morbid, it encourages me to bless every single day with actual presence. Nothing good lasts forever and I don’t believe we would find the sacredness of life if we were eternal. Of course, for me, I believe our collective consciousness goes on but we won’t be aware of it…just as we weren’t aware of our individuality before we were born…nor do I think it will matter, we return to this pool of love that is everything, all the time, everywhere. This background fabric of existence that fuels it all. I find it hard not to worship it all. Every single thing. Every single being I come into contact with. Every single green signal of life…the trees, the grass, flowers and all my beloved plants, my pets, the radiant Sun, the glorious Moon. I worship the universe. It is my god!
I worship it all!
I am so thankful to have been born in this age, the age of knowledge, the age of science. We have a beautiful grasp and understanding of the complexity of the stars and the universe and a basic knowledge of how the fundamentals work. We can observe and see the physical laws that govern our world and yet we are still so far from knowing even a smidgen of the entirety that is our existence. It is meant to be that way. Elusive. Keeping us forever searching for answers. As we reach out into the void of nothingness it is being created right at our fingertips for us to grab hold and digest but there is always more to be known. We can never fully have it. It is like a beautiful woman…you catch a waft of her scent and a glimmer of her eyes before she slips behind a corner just out of reach. You seek her out around the corner but only catch a glimpse of her gown and flowing hair as she is off again, beckoning you to follow. You seek and seek and only ever get a small taste of her wondrous nature, lusting for more but you can never know the fullness of her touch. You’ll never fully be able to lock onto her, to grab her up and kiss her. Again, she is gone. So you seek. On a perpetual journey of seeking the universe and all that she has to offer. Both inward and outward she is boundless and unable to be contained. Many are too fearful to journey on anyway, in spite of knowing the simple truth that we will never fully know her but craving the excitement of the hunt and pressing on anyway. Few are brave enough to follow her endlessly into the vast darkness, always on the frontier of what is known and marching on with determination into the unknown. Sustained by the thrill of what small amount she is willing to reveal of herself and driven by sheer, dumb, bull headed stubbornness. I know for me personally, I just cannot get enough!
Right Where You Belong 