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April 6, 2017

Nourishing Peace

by Pacha Mama

yoga balancing body and mind adyaRecently, the reflection of life that continues to weave through my days is the guidance to anchor MORE, to root, to ground the attention and to truly experience the sense of drawing the light down into the body, into this Earth walk. Slowing down and embracing the mundane, receiving the teachings of life and somehow making the high moments of understanding and inspiration concrete, in simple ways- lived, manifested, expressed through the NOW.

So much of our spiritual seeking is “out there” somewhere. Looking for god in the heights and peaks of experience, in the joy of being in the zone or in love or in some sort of expression of ecstasy or expansion. Those spiritual experiences of course have their teaching- in fact they guide us to widen the container and to expand our capacity to hold the fullness of life, allowing us to see and feel more deeply how wide and vast we truly are. And yet, expansion and the width and depth that are met through powerful moments is one side of the spectrum of the fullness of our reality.

Today in my yoga practice I touched the other side of the spectrum deeply- the simplicity of the softening presence of the exhale, and the power of creating space for integration, simply through slowing down- feeling, breathing, and listening.

There was a buzz inside of me… a subtle vibration of edginess and tiredness… a slight feeling of nervousness to meet the fullness of the moment. And the simple and nourishing softening presence of the exhale guided me (again!) back into the space of gentleness within, openness, softness. Observing how the tension in the physical body dropped away layer by layer revealing a deeper connection with the textures of sounds, the quality of resting on the Earth and the feeling inside my own form. Over time, or spontaneously this practice of resting into simplicity and presence may reveal a very tangible sense of embodiment, of essence, simply through the act of receiving the moment and NOURISHING PEACE.
Can we bring more attention to the spaces between thought and within the UNDOING and truly celebrate the opening into restfulness? Into spaciousness? Into Integration?

I am constantly amazed by how the most simple tools such as conscious breath, observing the sensations in the body, and simply witnessing and listening to the layers of sound can reveal such a vast connection to the inner space. The rich layers of the inner experience are revealed through the willingness to BREATHE with presence and to track the sensations of tightness and control within the body and the mind. This awareness slowly melts away the tension, on a very visceral level. We must be vigilant with continually calling the attention back to NOW, and yet these moments of letting go create a potent field of integration where our being can finally rest and say, “thank you! I’ve been holding onto so much!”

In a time of so much distraction and intensity, these points of integration and simplicity may be crucial to our health, vitality and sense of peace within. As dynamic beings we are bombarded by our own patterns of mind, the collective busyness and the call to achieve, do and become. The mind/body system is mostly functioning from a space of overload, just trying to cope with the overwhelmingness of being human in this very complex and rich expression of life.

As we create space for simple and gentle moments of integration, whether it happens on the yoga mat, or while sitting on the earth, or drinking a cup of tea, (or where-ever) we slowly widen this vessel of the body to truly receive and make sense of the peaks and the valleys that we cross through as human beings. Through moments of integration, we may finally allow both the expansive spiritual experiences and the very grounded daily insights to become more fully anchored within the body and thereby affecting our capacity to weave those understandings into the energy that we express through our life. And maybe this is how we can enhance the possibility of truly living the wisdom of the soul light within this Earth walk… with more clarity, intention, alignment and integrity.