A space opens in the upper regions of the body when we are ready to engage with change. The entire being and body having been upgrading, through practice, reception to experience and willingness; the body now a more finely tuned receptacle for what’s moving inside.
Change can also feel thrust upon us, when it is situational or circumstantial, rather than the kind we grow towards. And yet there is something that a practice that honours the changing nature of life can offer both kinds. When we acknowledge our inherent potential for growth, without having to know precisely what form it might take, moment to moment, from one experience to the next, we can consciously be arriving at the forefront of each mini life cycle, rather than reappearing to ourselves suddenly in the midst of a situation where it feels there is nothing for us to pick up and move through with.
When we take a step back or to the side for long enough, the time away from routine work all too suddenly feels plentiful. Hands want to work themselves and legs itch to take the weight of the work we will choose to pick up again. Which is why the side step is so important. We think it is a time to comfort the self, which it is, but it’s also when we get to catch up with where we have grown to and what this means for where we’re going. This turns out to be a rather uncomfortable space - yet it’s in this space that I access an unexpected freedom. The freedom to answer the questions that arise, from a different view point. I test out my software update for the first time this new cycle, asking myself the same questions I did at the beginning of last year. They sound the same, but feel different. Not better or worse, that is not the concern here.
What is different? I enquire, allowing the question to form a membrane across my mind. The enquiry begins to mark out dotted lines as I move through my daily living, opening gaps for new movements to weave through; a subtle promise between mind, spirit and body, to transform what’s dotted into something more solid.
When we are on our way, flowing towards what’s next, beforeness having been metabolised, we may encounter a bit of unease. I’ve found the uneasiness, which is just that - feeling out of sorts - neither a no, turn back, nor a resounding yes, is the bridge of integration. We aren’t quite sure what is coming next, and depending how in touch with ourselves we are, not necessarily aware of what this feeling might be. To recognise when a change or ‘uplevel’ is in progress, is true beauty. Like seeing the bud of an orchid suddenly begin to crack into bloom, or witnessing a plethora of new vocabulary being spoken by a child from one week to the next.
Being able to turn a lens in on oneself after a period of integrating new practices, habits and experiences can prove just as awe inspiring. Lasting change happens slowly, over time, but also arrives altogether quicker in its delivery than might be expected, when there is less a quality of waiting and more a spending of time; engaging with one’s antics as a whole-living human being. Perhaps, if we think of the mind as an island, this part of the whole might take itself a little less seriously, but no less sincerely, when it comes to the way we navigate Life. Exploring and experimenting beyond the self-created limitations of the mind.
In the same way that John Donne wrote, No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main - so we must involve and acknowledge all parts of our flesh temple.