Groundlessness Part 2
/"Dream in spite of darkness. Hope in spite of odds. Prevail in spite of fear." ~Mike Dooley
Think of one thing in your life that you’ve realized in the last day, week, month or year is unstable/not fixed/prone to change/unpredictable/wobbly/shaky/maybe even not as dependable as you once knew it to be.
Your body. A relationship. Your career. An event didn’t go the way you had planned. You feel disconnected from the people around you, separate, alone.
Once you’ve got the thing (because we all have a thing, some area of our life that we thought was constant but has shown us otherwise). Now, give gratitude for it. Radical gratitude. Because in its groundlessness it has shown you that nothing outside of yourself is truly fixed. Everything changes. Everything is in flux. There is nothing outside of ourselves that we can truly hold on to for a secure sense of security. In seeing this, in accepting this, we find two things:
our ability to go with the flow, to become fluid and open, curious, to reach for solutions that we may not have ever reached for.
That the only thing that we can truly depend on is our own power, our internal alignment, the fact that we are the living energy that permeates all things. That within lies the solutions to all of our problems, the answers to all of our questions and ultimately our happiness because we realize our reactions are the only things we can control. We give up the notion that “if you would change, then I would be happy” or the “i’ll be happy when..”.
For me “you are the answer” is a little hard to digest. I want to buy to the solution, I want to eat, drink, read the book, take the course, chaturanga my way to the solution. Tell me what’s in the secret sauce that will make my life complete. I literally asked Rolf Gates for it one day during my training with him. I said “give me the secret, how do you hit the mark every time?” He looked right at me and said “if you don’t trust in yourself then you shouldn't be doing it.” There it is. That’s how you hit the mark, trust in your own power. Even our yoga practice is not solution, it’s a means to the solution. The things that we do or acquire can be a temporary means to happiness but ultimately won’t provide the lasting contentment we crave. This is always found within.
We use the practice in this way. We begin with the body because it’s the most tangible, the most easily accessed. Through building strength and opening the tight spots we access the energy flow that has become stuck and stagnant. As the energy becomes unstuck we find a new level of awareness, of curiosity, we step into the flow. As the body opens so does the mind. With this open awareness we start to direct this flow of energy to the places that need it most. To the areas where we have become hardened and stuck mentally, emotionally, spiritually. In the flow of life we may find ourselves saying, “I want to see this another way”. As we let go of our rigid beliefs of how it's all supposed to be (better said, as we let go of the fear that created the rigid beliefs in the first place) we step into the quiet of the mind. In the space in between the thoughts lies an inspiration, an idea, an answer, a solution. We begin to shift, to see clearly, to move into the flow, the stream of well being, the abundant living energy that is always available to us.
"The instability in your life has created the atmosphere for you to know your true power."