Digging, Dirt and Discipline
Spring. A time of renewal, a time to get clean and even a time to get dirty. I mean deep down, rooted in the earth dirty. This spring begins the transition of my time of transition. This spring signals uprooting, upheaval, and feeling like I’m floating up in the air. My mind is many places at one time. Some call it multi-tasking and others call it chaos. I haven’t quite decided yet which it is and maybe that’s best…for now.
In Patanjalis Yoga Sutras, Chitta Vritta Nirodha: (Yoga is the cessation of mental activity) it reads that when we let go of the “mind stuff” we are able to find peace, serenity, quiet through discipline and practice. Through meditation practice, asana practice and pranayama we are able to find place of peace. Although the peaceful place doesn’t always look like what you think it will. Maybe because it feels like an unattainable goal I feel myself struggling with the consistency of my discipline part of practice. I find that my mind wanders with what I could be doing different, what I should be doing to make things better, and the reality of what I can control and what I cannot. How come I don’t feel like the Buddha sitting under the Bodhi Tree?
I have found that coming back to nature is what grounds me. When I woke up this morning I found this nagging feeling of being unsettled creeping into my mind. I went to the only place I know that fills me up when I feel like this. I went down to the beach. I took off my tennis shoes and walked in the soft sand. Feeling my toes dig in the sand and the ball of my foot push in to create a little dip in the sand felt good. I stopped randomly, sat down, watched the waves, breathed in the salty air, got back up and felt whole again, grounded.
Maybe this is my discipline practice, my meditation, my asana, my pranayama practice right now. This is my yoga. I hope you are able to find yours.
Tags: Athena Engelman, El Porto, Hermosa Beach, Yoga Sutras
