We all face change on a regular basis, in fact, impermanence is one of the principal characteristics of human existence. It is an ordinary state of affairs to which we can all relate.
Yet when it is change in our OWN lives or personal experience, we seem to resist the basic fact that change is inevitable! When life goes off course, I find myself clinging to permanence, routine, security, and what is familiar and safe. Yet life is really just one transition after another. Trungpa Rinpoche, a Buddhist monk, has wisely said “We are always in transition. If you can just relax with that, you’ll have no problem.”
In yoga, every time we step onto our mat, it is different. We are never in the same body from day to day, or even moment to moment. Perhaps you hamstrings are more open, or your savasana is deeper, or your hip is acting up, or your mind is having trouble staying focused. No matter what arises, yoga teaches us to be present with it all. That is the gift of yoga….we learn to be awake and mindful for everything that arises in each moment.
This hopefully transfers to more gracefully accepting the direction our life is taking us…whether it is what we had planned or not. How are we going to spend this brief lifetime? Are we going to strengthen our well-perfected ability to struggle against change, or are we going to train in letting go?
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” ~Author unknown, commonly misattributed to Charles Darwin
