Tuesday 18 December 2012

Sweet surrender…Ishwara Pranidhana


       
‘If you surrender, you cannot fail’, so spoke the words of Akash…giving me the best insurance policy round. What’s more, the only thing it cost me was my time. Sometimes I think I’m ready until I find myself second guessing my path. But in the next breath, I feel this unbelievable sense of being held, supported and understood.  I often say to my students that ‘the universe is unfolding as it should’. And at times I feel that sense of contradiction both in my teaching and in my understanding.
But the easier I am on myself, the easier the road becomes.  Akash’s daughter Radha sings a beautiful song whose following line I feel sums this up: ‘...It’s gonna take a jump off a cliff with a prayer on your lips and a wide open mind’.  The heart for me sometimes dumbfounds me and at times I don’t want to listen to it. To a certain extent, listening to my heart means running with the wolves so to speak.  She is an unchecked fire, a beast who wishes to remain untamed. Which begs the question, why do we or should we tame ourselves?  Surrender is an act of jumping on the wolf’s back. And funnily enough, it does provide more of a money back guarantee than the book of your past ever will.
The present is a gift so I am told. In earth warrior, the strength of this pose lies in acknowledging the paths that lie both in our past and future; whilst remaining with a strong foundation in the now.  It requires an open heart, as this to me is, excuse the pun, at the heart of the pose. Sting sung about the fortresses we place around our heart.  And there are definitely times when I feel want to run away. From things, people and places that can break my heart.  But the funny thing is that life exists in dichotomies. Black and white, pleasure and pain, fear and love.  Unchecked passion can run amok and I guess for me the balance is found in silence and stillness.  Despite all the promises in the world, we can and will get hurt. It’s sort of a given when we are placed here. It’s the fine print in our acceptance letter so to speak.
Surrender is sweet as it offers us that metaphorical post break up box of chocolates – without the calories. None of us are ever alone. And if we trust, we will receive many proverbial cherries atop our cakes.  And that’s the best fine print of all.

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