Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Step In, Open Up, Shine Out


As we move through this life, we have choices that need to be made. To most, this seems like such an obvious thing to say. The more I attune into this life that I have the absolute honour to be a part of, I notice that people do make decisions on a daily basis... Latte or Cappuccino, paper or plastic, chicken or fish (or Tofu), so on and so on. But there is a more pressing decision to be made. To be Present or not. And I'm slightly saddened to say that a lot of people choose the "not' option.

My friend Beth Rutty (Anusara Inspired teacher), posted a fantastic question on her Facebook yesterday, "What does it mean to be Human?"
And it was actually her 17 year old son that posed the question to her. This really got me thinking......hmmmm. And this is one of those questions that links back to decision making. In our lifetime, we don't only define what it is, to ourselves, to be Human, but we make the decision whether or not to even contemplate this question in the forefront of our conscious mind or just let it reside in the back of our heads and pretend like it's not important.

To me (and I'm still contemplating this one), to be Human is to take responsibility for the Consciousness that we're given. We are the only beings on this planet that have been given the awareness and knowledge of our own existence and mortality. We have free will. We have the freedom to choose our own path in life. So I believe that we have the duty to use this free will with care and sensitivity. We need to keep others and our own "Best" interests in mind when we make the decisions that we do. For me, this is where the Yamas and the Niyamas come into practice. I think to be truly Human, we stay aware of our own uniqueness but at the same time we need to remember that we are all creatures of Nature. We are, as Michael Franti put it, "The One Earth Sons and One Earth Daughters of the One Earth Mama and the One Earth Papa!"

We need to seriously take a look at what's happening in the microcosm of our own bodies and minds and immediate communities but also stay sensitive and in tune with the Macrocosm of this Universe that we are all a part of.

After the Anusara workshop with Martin Kirk and learning more about Tantric Yoga philosophy, I've adopted a little bit of a new personal philosophy. Martin equated life to a rain puddle. Where some other schools of philosophy would ask you to step out of this life through renunciation, Tantric philosophy asks you to step into this rain puddle of life. And sometimes the rain puddle is going to get messy and sometimes it is clear, clean and shimmering. The decision that needs to be made is, will you stay in and open to what the puddle has to offer... Every experience.

My personal philosophy... Step In, Open Up, Shine Out:)

Namaste...Shanti...Shanti...Shanti