“When you catch yourself slipping into a pool of negativity, notice how it derives from nothing other than resistance to the current situation.”
― Donna Quesada, Buddha in the Classroom: Zen Wisdom to Inspire Teachers

Day 280 – Transcendence, not surprisingly, carries layers of meaning for me.  It is found in words, metaphorical thinking, movement, and (more recently) breath.  Doing pre-calc yesterday, I found a rhythm to my studying and working problems and at one point, as Rolf writes in today’s reading, my mind became “centered through concentration.”  As he also points out, I moved “in and out of distraction” and “in and out of concentration.”  However, there are times when I’m moving or doing something that my concentration quiets, and truly “something powerful happens.”  Rolf describes this, writing:  “Where until now we have sought out experience, suddenly experience seeks us out instead.  We cross a threshold, and meditation overtakes us.”

I think, as I sometimes do in pre-calculus:  “Oh, I get it!”  Learning is this way.  We’ve practiced enough, we enjoy the ride and accept the challenges that will come (and they will) with continuing.  Similarly, of pranayama, Rolf writes:  “Effort ceases and we are no longer the doer.  Our breathing carries on without our volition, drawing us deeper into the moment with each breath.  As our minds become still, we become the calm forest pool, inaction in action.”

Today, I meditated upon ahisma, nonviolence, peace, and kindness.  Rolf reminds us today that transcendence is “not a mountain to climb or a grade to get,” although that in our world of worlds is part of transcendence for some.  He reminds us that it is a place within our present experience, not just on the mat and that “our practice merely opens the door so that you can return to this sacred place.”

Meditation and pranayama allow me to stand on the threshold of good, kind living, to be a kinder and more loving mother, wife, teacher, and person.  Especially in teaching, it is a wonder to see only flow in my co-workers or teachers.  It is an aspiration to become inaction in action.