Trust 1: Your Own Process of Growth
The feeling of sunshine and growth in the Northeast is so sweet and empowering this year. Hopefully you’re taking time to savor witnessing this process. I often look at the growth from seeds to plants, and the trees, animals, and insects coming back to life and am in awe.
In Ayurveda, this unfreezing time of year is a mix of water and earth called kapha season and lasts until late spring. It’s heavy and wet, like mud, and might make us seek out things that are lighter. Read this blog from last year for more information about adjusting to kapha season to maintain balance.
Ayurveda also teaches us, as do plants, just how important developing resilience is for our mental and physical health. Like the hardy kale in our backyard garden that somehow survived three big snowstorms, nature is so resilient! I’ve recently found myself, like many others this year, in difficult situations but trying my best to remember that those hard opportunities always allow us to grow. Either by establishing boundaries, maintaining our self-care, savoring small moments, or choosing to help rather than hurt. This is our practice in action.
It’s also a reminder that yoga was never created to be all about downdogs, or even just as a physical practice. The ancient Yogis saw the body as merely a vehicle for the soul and yoga was a way of life, instead of just a practice. They took care of the body because they needed longevity to achieve true spiritual growth. This includes a lifetime practice of becoming more mindfully aware, and steadying the mind to identify more with the unchanging part of us or, our consciousness. In Samkhya philosophy this is known as purusa — the part that “sees” the world around us. It serves as our inner voice, guide, and authentic Self.
Yoga teaches that this true essence is the key to our inner resilience, it remains stable no matter what happens around you, or to you, whether you feel connected with this part of you or far removed from it. Practice can help us overcome attachment to all that other material stuff outside of our control and in our environment (prakriti) that may cause suffering, known as kleshas.
So how to reconnect with this unwavering “self”? It can be a difficult thing to do, but when it feels hard, being gentle, patient and giving us some “self-love” can help.
Try by practicing to:
Find a place that is comfortable and recall a memory or place you feel good thinking about. Try to connect with that feeling of who you are at your core in that moment.
If it’s hard to bring these feelings or memories up, imagine comforting yourself in the same way a friend or loved one might comfort you or show they care.
Remember that even though your body, economics, personal relationships, or other circumstances may have changed, that same person is within you always.
Spend 5 long breaths, or 3 minutes with a timer, connecting with this image and these feelings in your meditation. Before you get out of bed or check your phone in the morning, take mini moments to connect with your body and breath during breaks throughout the day.
Do this every day over several weeks —this all takes time.
Spend time with yourself in other ways that make me feel more like yourself, too. Running, drawing, writing, being in nature, doing asana/pranayama, and other activities are all good ways to nurture this relationship. It helps extend beyond the physical body to connect with the real you more deeply. You will feel this in beach yoga, if you join us this summer, too. Another good way to do this is exploring Ayurveda to establish balance in your doshas, learn about your dosha here.
And before you know it, by doing all these “small things” to being more aware and mindful about how you can act, you come to a point where you can more easily choose to do what’s true to you and you can continue to grow your true Self.