There are days where I couldn’t be more grateful for my yoga practice. It is my safe haven. It is my peace. My home. It is one time each day where I give myself permission to be fully present. To totally let go of everything. What a blessing. What a relief. What a gift. Making space for this practice every day is a beautiful act of self-love. It is the most important thing I do. It is this act of kindness that gives me the strength I need to keep going.
The intention I set for myself today is “I am safe.” Words I probably need to recite to myself everyday, but words that I especially needed today. My practice helped me to marinate in those words, allowed them to seep into my very bones and calm my restless heart and mind. As I meditated I could feel these words giving me permission to release everything that I am always holding onto. I felt the silken threads of the universe cradle me as I let myself experience the sweetest of surrenders. Giving myself the opportunity to finally rest. Even if just for a few moments.
The lines that separate this physical being from all of existence blurred ever so gently. I felt myself melting. A sensation of warmth. As I allowed myself to dissolve back into everything that is. A drop of rain soaking into the soul An overwhelming sense of trust and peace and protection thread through each cell, weaving me snuggly back into the fabric from which I came. That we all remain, and will always remain, a part of. A delicious oneness. A much needed reminder, that I am safe. We are safe.
I have often heard sentiments expressing how all we really need are small moments like this. Just watching a sunset or waking up to the sound of birds singing. Just stillness, just our breath. Yet I don’t think it’s emphasized enough that not only are these things all we need, they are what we need. I feel this is an important distinction. The first framing makes it sound as though we are able to get by on only these small things. However, in reality, these are the only things that allow us to get by. I’m not sure that anything else even really matters. The rest is just fluff, colorful distractions.
These distractions, the homes and cars and electronics and money and power and accolades, don’t serve us at all in the end. They only separate us more from ourselves. And what a gift it is to remind ourselves, that even though we may get lost in desires, we already possess everything we truly need. That peace we seek, that happiness, that security, that love, is always within us. It will always be there for us. We can always choose to return to it. We can all find rest, redemption, refuge within. If we only practice and strengthen that connection. If we only stop to remind ourselves. I am safe. We are all safe.
Protect the Innocent 