Befriend, freeze, run away, defend, help, grieve… our animal instincts, all of them. 

Along the way we get so much feedback, we learn so many stories. We develop preferences, we choose sides. We change. 

Everything changes. 

In the liminal space between what was and what we be… there we are. 

Shedding layers, adding new ones, duplicating, replicating, smelling, hearing, expecting…

It’s the expectations that get us, the “shoulds.”

To gain insight and reduce suffering we can practice orienting both to what is, and, its true, impermanent nature. 

The breath is often where we begin. It is so reliable. It’s always there. Did you get a flicker of awareness as you read that? Might you want to linger for a moment there? 

Honor your life force with your attention. 

The position of the sun (best noted with observation of the sky and shadows but a clock works too,) and our bodies here on the earth may also reliably evoke awareness. 

The senses are the gateways to presence… the mind is best directed by conscious intention. Memories and aspirations are powerful but, they are not where life is lived. 

It is here. 

Learn to love each moment and find freedom. Practice attuning and find the moment! This is what we practice in yoga… with postures, with senses, with breathing, with others. It’s not “stretching.” It’s not us on our own. 

I fell in love with a moose this weekend. He graced us with his peaceful presence for 3 days. He ate apples from the tree and made a bed in the compost pile. I was struck with how drawn to him I was. When, on the 3rd day, I arrived back home after a ski and saw he was gone, I grieved. There’s a thread of my heart now that extends out and winds through the neighborhood and down into the woods. There are many. I am tethered to this place, this planet, by the thousands (millions!?) of threads that connect me to all of the moose with whom I’ve shared moments and, with you.

Yoga for Grief, a humbly offered, free, online practice, Tuesdays 6 pm (AKT)

Thank you.