“We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly. . . spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order.”
Day 298 – Resistance. Our thoughts have energy and they change our experience, if we let them. Today, Rolf describes ill-will, a hinderance, for sure. Rolf describes a scenario by which a new “experienced” yogi comes to his class and has a bad time of it. What teacher doesn’t experience this? The sighing, the tsking, the grunting, the changing of the pose, the facial expression, and sometimes, even the walk out.
Rolf writes: “The problem isn’t that we experience feelings of ill will, the problem is that we allow ourselves to go with them.” Not only does the new “experienced” yogi in my class radiate ill-will, but often so do I. As Rolf explains, ill will is an extrovert. I am as guilty as any other person at believing that the problem is “out there, not in here.”
Today, I settled into a short asana practice with a mighty powerful pranayama sequence within and around it. Each morning I have been working on a theme for Sunday’s class and I am honestly astonished at how the breath work and meditation transform my early morning, giving me energy and creating space inside. As I step off my mat, begin my “real” day of students and family obligations, as I move through my day, I will look for and name ill will as it comes up. In this way, I will “begin to see how ill-will has the power to define the world…or not” depending upon my reaction to it.
space365 