Opening, Expansion, Closing

Opening, Expansion, Closing

Monday, April 8, 2013

Do your best, surrender to the rest

There is always so much time between each blog. So much that has happened and somehow I do come back, and hope I always will in some way or fashion. Speaking of fashion, I read a quote today about a man who goes in to get his suit tailored. He stood looking at it in the mirror and he notices the vest was too short, on one side, then the tailor said, "Just pull it down with the left hand and hold it there and it will be even." So the man pulls it down, notices how then it was even. Then he saw that the sleeve on one side grew uneven, the tailor told the man, "Just hold it down with your other hand and it'll be perfect." But then as he held the vest with one hand, and the sleeve with the other, he noticed that the lapel had curled up, the tailor then told him, "Just hold it down with your chin, see, now it's a perfect fit." The man agreed then walked out of the shop in his newly tailored suit. He walked through the park, past a couple of older men playing chess. "Wow, look, George, one man said, look at how crippled that man is, that's a shame, poor man." The second man replied, "Yes, it's a shame, he's terribly  crippled, but what a nice suit, wonder where he got it."

This quote made me think about my own yoga practice and how for many years I have trusted in others rather than more in myself. As if I, like this old man completely trusting his tailor, have surrendered my own needs, comforts, to what others may think because I somehow thought they knew more than me, because they were in positions of authority, but truly, the truest authority lies within us all.

We can all grow crippled by trying to fit ourselves, like magically human pretzels, into the shapes, ideals, forms, that others wish to fit us into, because we surrender our own authority over to them, and inevitably whenever that takes place, it leaves us feeling like that man in the story, a little crippled, or unbalanced.

It is through honoring our own feelings and needs, in our life, and practice, that will better serve us, and guide us, towards living at our greatest potential, which is what Yoga is all about in the first place. Growing more flexible in the body is merely a by-product of the asana practice.

Western culture so much dictates to us, like false Guru's, what we need, how we need to behave, what to wear, how and what to eat, how much we should sleep, there's a litany of "to do's and how to do's," and they are endless. Guru means in Sanskrit, Remover of Darkness, and sometimes we surrender wholeheartedly all our efforts into these external false Guru's while ignoring what our gut is telling us. Ignoring the most important Guru of all, our heart, our gut, our breath, our minds eye, our connections, the spiritual, physical, mental, emotional connections, we too often surrender over to others and gage our happiness according to these external Gurus.

When truly we only need to do as Krishna speaks of in the Bhagavad Gita, in my words, "Do your best, surrender to the rest." We must all strive to do our individual best and our best truly is not meant to give full effort, all sweat, all energy every day because sometimes our best efforts are those days spent doing very little.

When we spend time in deep reflection, and develop a a deeper contemplative life, we grow to know our inner Guru with a much deeper knowing. Those days spent following the energy of the day, maybe moving slower than, "usual," maybe doing less than more, and that is truly honoring where we are, and acting from an energetically honest place, rather than pounding through when we might be energetically drained. Within all our workaholic- isms, we come to find ourselves inching farther away from inner peace. But the inner Guru is always there, speaking, asking, suggesting, guiding us, towards a deeper connection to bliss, to source, to inner peace that always is there for us to embrace at any given moment.

Today, I decided to post another blog because I want those couple, maybe only one or two, to be reminded that they, that you, are your own Guru, and maybe this will inspire you into not letting someone else place you into a uncomfortable fitting suit, making you appear crippled, when in reality, you're simply not embracing your own Guru, your own breath, your own energy level, your own LIFE!

Enjoy Yours,
With Infinite Peaceful Blessings,

Dancingly,

Krista



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