Change

I’m currently working plenty and delivering some of the best bodywork Austin has to offer. There are many changes underfoot and I admit being nervous about changes in business or living situation. As with all things I attempt to take it with grace and calm, an ongoing yoga practice makes a huge difference.

As I age, change and life continues to throw me curve balls I couldn’t imagine, I find myself in awe. In the middle of interactions with people, social situations, working with clients and students I’m usually trying to put my best foot forward. After years of practice in the healing arts and having relationships with people I’ve come across ongoing spiritual truths. The first among these is that all things change.

This fundamental fact, if you really grasp it, means that clinging to anything is pointless. Some have issue with this teaching. Saying you’re unattached often feels like you’re detached or being emotionally distant instead of involved in change or others tumult. I think it’s just the opposite. Holding someone in the midst of turmoil calms and soothes them while recognizing the fundamental fact that you’re both floating on a sometimes rough ocean. No one is harmed when emotions are calmed and burdens recognized and shared.

When things are good, it’s easy to sit, dwell, hang out and enjoy the sun’s rays. When it’s raining and you’re in your nice clothes with somewhere to go it’s far more difficult. You’re still on the same ocean and a storm is brewing. What is our goal in the midst of all this flux? Your goal is to become a cork. Just float. Life’s changes and your emotional responses to them will go on unceasingly. The hard part is sitting, dwelling in that state and allowing it to come and go just as joy will. Don’t avoid. Embrace.

Be a cork. Float.

“Behold, O monks, this is my advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation.”~~The Buddha’s final teaching