Everything leads up to now. Doesn’t it always?
It seems I’ve been on a life-long journey to seek truth. Not The Truth, but truth where it lives in each experience. I guess that’s partly why I never gravitated toward any one clique, but fanned out to include samples of various personalities to make up my group of friends. Stereotypes create a list of definitions, but do not embody truth, individuals do. Even as I was following the Grateful Dead, I would find myself wandering the parking lots for some lost truth I felt was lacking in the group-speak. Like Dorothy, I have come to learn that I don’t have to venture beyond my own world to find truth. That said, my seeking journey seems to have just begun. Now, I must wander through myself and truly practice being present to find what I seek.
The practices of Yoga & meditation resonate as ongoing adventures toward clarity, enlightenment, truth. The Spiritual Path (not referring to organized religion, but the knowledge that we are all connected) has always been present in my life, in one form or another. Sometimes I walk beside the Path, intending one day to get back on it and other times I crisscross it with good intention but waning action & faulty follow-through. Then there are those times when I feel I’ve trod the Path at length, but then fall far by the wayside only to glimpse the Path in the far distance. Lately, my intentions & actions have found harmony, resulting in a beautiful expression of consistency & commitment.
My very first Yoga class was at OM Yoga, 10 years ago when it was on 14th Street. That first class was held in a small room, with creaky floors, a leaky radiator & water-stained ceiling. I struggled with the asanas but felt great after class. I tried to put my finger on the feeling, and all I could come up with was that something special was going on and I wanted to be part of it.
I developed a fairly regular practice and was becoming more intrigued with each downward dog. I took a lateral step to the Shambhala Center a few blocks away and experienced the richness of the Shambhala training programs: Heart of Warriorship & Sacred Path. I entered a new, yet familiar, comfort zone where I felt no need to wander outside myself.
Life's beautiful milestones including marriage, moving and children lovingly distracted me for a while. My mat and cushion found their own stillness in my new, more spacious suburban closet. Three children later, I became the nucleus to the atom of my family, leaving my Self to take a temporary back seat. As the kids have succumbed to the nature of time, they are now each in school, for at least a few hours a week. Settling into the scheduling groove and finding a few weekly hours to devote to myself, I saw the Path resurface, moving from my peripheral vision into full view.
I got back on the Path a few months ago when I decided to invite Yoga into my life on a more daily basis than a whenever-I-can-fit-it-in basis. It started slowly, with a weekly basic evening class and grew to adding a mixed level class on Saturday morning. Then, circumstances allowed me to add Sunday morning, too. Now that the kids are back in school (albeit varying times & places), my schedule can hold three weekdays at the gym and Family Yoga at end the week. I’m not sure how this happened, but it is quite remarkable.
The magic has already begun to whirl.
I am thrilled & humbled by this practice.
And curious.
It seems I’ve been on a life-long journey to seek truth. Not The Truth, but truth where it lives in each experience. I guess that’s partly why I never gravitated toward any one clique, but fanned out to include samples of various personalities to make up my group of friends. Stereotypes create a list of definitions, but do not embody truth, individuals do. Even as I was following the Grateful Dead, I would find myself wandering the parking lots for some lost truth I felt was lacking in the group-speak. Like Dorothy, I have come to learn that I don’t have to venture beyond my own world to find truth. That said, my seeking journey seems to have just begun. Now, I must wander through myself and truly practice being present to find what I seek.
The practices of Yoga & meditation resonate as ongoing adventures toward clarity, enlightenment, truth. The Spiritual Path (not referring to organized religion, but the knowledge that we are all connected) has always been present in my life, in one form or another. Sometimes I walk beside the Path, intending one day to get back on it and other times I crisscross it with good intention but waning action & faulty follow-through. Then there are those times when I feel I’ve trod the Path at length, but then fall far by the wayside only to glimpse the Path in the far distance. Lately, my intentions & actions have found harmony, resulting in a beautiful expression of consistency & commitment.
My very first Yoga class was at OM Yoga, 10 years ago when it was on 14th Street. That first class was held in a small room, with creaky floors, a leaky radiator & water-stained ceiling. I struggled with the asanas but felt great after class. I tried to put my finger on the feeling, and all I could come up with was that something special was going on and I wanted to be part of it.
I developed a fairly regular practice and was becoming more intrigued with each downward dog. I took a lateral step to the Shambhala Center a few blocks away and experienced the richness of the Shambhala training programs: Heart of Warriorship & Sacred Path. I entered a new, yet familiar, comfort zone where I felt no need to wander outside myself.
Life's beautiful milestones including marriage, moving and children lovingly distracted me for a while. My mat and cushion found their own stillness in my new, more spacious suburban closet. Three children later, I became the nucleus to the atom of my family, leaving my Self to take a temporary back seat. As the kids have succumbed to the nature of time, they are now each in school, for at least a few hours a week. Settling into the scheduling groove and finding a few weekly hours to devote to myself, I saw the Path resurface, moving from my peripheral vision into full view.
I got back on the Path a few months ago when I decided to invite Yoga into my life on a more daily basis than a whenever-I-can-fit-it-in basis. It started slowly, with a weekly basic evening class and grew to adding a mixed level class on Saturday morning. Then, circumstances allowed me to add Sunday morning, too. Now that the kids are back in school (albeit varying times & places), my schedule can hold three weekdays at the gym and Family Yoga at end the week. I’m not sure how this happened, but it is quite remarkable.
The magic has already begun to whirl.
I am thrilled & humbled by this practice.
And curious.
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ReplyDeleteSherry,
ReplyDeleteI will find time today in Jamaica to sit by the sea and stretch and think of you and find the quiet within myself. This "quiet" gets hidden amidst all the activity in my life and I am always looking for it. Love your blog!
Colleen
Dear Sherry: Next is a book. I wish I had your gift with words. It is brilliant and so well done. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.
ReplyDeleteYour gift of writing will touch many in time. I will hold onto your apron strings and swing through the thoughts and experiences interweaved in your stories.
ReplyDeleteWell done Sherry.
Rod