In my many Michigan discoveries, I never would have dreamed that one of my favorites would stretch my body and relax my mind at the same time. I derive strength from yoga on many different levels.
After a stinky, sweaty cycle class this morning, I settled onto my yoga mat awaiting the peace that almost always follows – and always available if I am willing to accept it. Instructor, Patty began class with a metaphor that has rolled around in my head all day, so I feel I must share.
Our emotions are the waves rolling in and crashing on the shoreline, then pulling back and moving back to the calm of the sea, Patty quietly shared. We do not want to be defined by our emotions, nor do we wish to have our emotions be considered our stability, or lack thereof. Waves recede and return back to the core – from the place of centeredness where they began, and so – we should allow our emotions to return to our center where the stability lies.
Pretty heady stuff for ten in the morning after exhausting myself on a stationary bike, but as I lay on the mat with my hand just below my rib cage to align my breath and focus on my center, I rested my thoughts on these words.
We know people who have been defined over and over by their emotions – maybe even we could, at times, be described as the stressed-out one, the testy one, or the moody one. Our spirit lies in the core where the emotions can return for refreshment and refining. Think of the core as charm school for those moody fingers that want to poke out and embarrass us in spite of ourselves.
When I picture my center – the place of calm within me, I think of God, always present and available to bring me to peace. An eagle with its wings spread wide comes to mind. I picture the center of the eagle as strong and stable with its only weakness being the tips of its wings – our emotions and fragility. After flight, the powerful bird brings in its wings tightly to its center and stands regally from a perch.
Some days I just cannot find my center. I could really place yesterday in the cruddy day category. Sometimes, sundown is simply a good way to put a cap on and close a cloudy, cold and nasty day. Yesterday, my emotions took control – not in the weepy, sorrowful manner that releases my grief and returns me to my center, but in the confused, disoriented, painful way that grief sometimes grips me and gains control. This morning, thankfully I awoke to sunshine and ready to face the day fresh.
Emotions can and do run amok in me some days. I need to experience and feel the strong emotions to work through my painful days, but I do not want to allow them to define me. I want the strength of my inner core, my spiritual center to control my life and define me.
As the hour of yoga practice continued, I managed to align my breathing, stretch my body, and focus my thoughts on the present so I could bring strength and balance to the soul that sustains and feeds me.
I hope to not allow the emotional waves define me, but flow back to the center for renewed strength. And that is the sunshine peeking from behind yesterday’s cruddy clouds. Thanks, Patty.
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