the time has come to take the practice out of the container of only self improvement and head out into the world. We are meant to do this work in relationship with one another, in community and for the world with the hope that our work will be of benefit to all beings. 

We are, after all, practicing a modality that is rooted in the love for all beings whose aim is to ease suffering. So how do we proceed?

I often think the answers should be more complicated than they are but the practice goes to great lengths to remind us that the process is simple, however, far from easy. We have to do our work. Getting into alignment gives us access to the larger part of who we are and in that space we see what is false, temporary, impermanent which allows us to let go of what is fleeting and anchor in reality that is bigger than we are. It is in this space we create the answers are revealed.

Learning to trust in our inner knowing is a skill that we can develop. We all know what a truth feels like when we hear it but the mind will quickly argue it’s validity based on our conditioning so we often struggle with listening to own heart and disregard it’s promptings.

The steps are same whether you coming to the yoga mat, the meditation cushion or wanting to make your way out into the world by way of the heart. Get present, let go, trust that life will hold you and listen for what is revealed. Should the ego attempt to dissuade you from trusting in what you find use this metric system to assess if what you are hearing is true;

Is it inclusive? Does it by no circumstance leave anyone behind?

Is it empowering? Does it remind you of the power you possess? 

Does it speak to the beauty of life? Because that, my friends, is love. 

May you be happy, healthy, know peace and walk through this world with ease,

Cynthia

40 Days Guided Sequence

Movement

“Radical self-love is not an impossibility. It’s not even a destination. It is your inherent sense of self. You came here, to this planet, as unapologetic radical love. ”

— Sonya Renee Taylor

If our suffering relies on our forgetting who it is we are, then naturally, a starting point to alleviate even a smidge of our amnesia would be time spent getting to know who we are. Our practice ideally becomes a ritual we embark on day in and day out with this intention at the forefront of our work. “Who am I?” 

Each week we identified a Klesha, the obstacles the Yoga Sutras say hinder our progress and cause the forgetting. But thankfully they don’t leave us holding the problems, they say we also possess the solution and give us a roadmap back to ourselves.

The subtle causes of suffering are destroyed when the mind merges back into the unmanifest. The gross effects of suffering are discarded through meditation. - Yoga Sutras

Meditation creates the space that allows us to notice the Kleshas when they arise. And as hard as our desires and aversions and fears and worries and insecurities can be to sit with, to gently observe, we do because the intention is knowing all the parts of ourselves, not just the perfectly packaged pieces but the wild and unruly ones as well. 

We continuously stay accountable to our hearts by being willing to sit with our suffering and ultimately heal our relationship with the present moment; we stop running from what’s been so hard to confront. It has been my experience that if I stay with what seems impossible to sit with I am shown all the gloriousness of what also exists within. If I can sit in the fire of my own humanity I’m reminded of who it is I am. 

Clear seeing or Vidya is the remembering, it’s the sun coming out after you thought the rain would never stop. It is intimately knowing the part of us that was not born and can not be taken away. It is remembering as Sonya Renee Taylor says; that we came to this planet as radical love. And maybe we are all here together because the forgetting has become too big a burden to bear and there’s a sense that as we awaken to this energy (that has always existed within) we become lighter, happier, healthier and possibly liberated from our illusion.

As we’ve seen over these past 40 days, showing up on the mat is not always easy. It takes vulnerability and courage but also serves as a beautiful reminder that although our intentions may be for self improvement there is actually nothing to fix because you, sweetheart, are not broke. You are perfectly human. And time spent on the mat is not only a reminder of your basic goodness and wholeness but an opportunity to free you of the story that says otherwise. 

With love,

Cynthia

Daily Devotions Days 36-40

Mantra

Contemplative Questions

• What is worthy of my soul?

• What will you have me do that is worthy of your magnificence?

• What do I, more than anything, want to receive in this world?

Emergency Zen

Week 6: Days 36-40