Unity

I am ever more in awe at the way we as humans fit together. We are mere manifestations of elemental components which have been combined to create a harmonious process of being. I was first exposed to this idea upon an introduction to Thai Yoga Therapy practices, and felt a sense of inner illumination when shown how the arches of one's feet create a perfect seat for another's sit bones. I have always been eager to embrace mental connection, and I now see how physical connection completes the bond. Now I am experiencing this in acroyoga, too. It's possible to dissipate the energetic walls that so often find themselves creating gaps in our connections with others. We all do it or have done it at some point. There is sometimes a disparity between what we think, feel, and say, and this inconsistency limits the extent to which we can interact with humanity. I've learned only somewhat recently that reaching out tends to help me more in times of distress than does retreating. And maybe this is because reaching out allows one to interact with the greater being of humanity. Through speech, we can extend thoughts and fears to the greater web, and suddenly not everything we think is so daunting. There is comfort in the relinquishing of thoughts. Even speech, though, can become a barrier. Speech is the mind element - it's the way we navigate and communicate energy, but it does not necessarily engage the physical being. In order to create balanced connection, we must engage the mind, body, and soul proportionately. Why is it that when we are feeling down, sometimes we say to a friend, "I just need a hug"? Perhaps it is because we are longing for the physical connection, and have likely been too caught up in the mental realm. The imbalance creates a physical need, a basic comfort we know can be satisfied with a simple embrace. Physical interaction dives right in, eliminates linguistic articulation, and gets right to the core of human interaction. The notion of personal space does not quite apply, and instead we open ourselves up with trust and acceptance and allow for shared space. By assembling parts of our bodies together such that they operate as one, we create a shared experience of energy and movement. Mind and body are so intricately connected that a lesson learned in the physical realm is translated with ease to the mental realm. Using the physical body to learn lessons of the mind is putting to use the vehicle of life we have been granted, and in doing so, we become strengthened mind-body beings. Our bodies are organic, and our vast interconnectedness is apparent in our basic skeletal organization. We are meant to intertwine, we are made for connection.

Perpetual Creation

We create and recreate. You've immersed yourself in new energy and now the familiar place yields new sight. We experience and ignited sense of purpose in one place, and that purpose follows us everywhere because it exists as a never-ending stream of fuel in our minds. The passion makes things look different. It was always there, causing us to tilt our heads or ask a question, but now it enables us to construct complex observations, to analytically observe, to both feel and articulate the implications of a more fertilized mind. And how exciting it is that we can count on something new all of the time? There is no beginning, there is no end - our existence is a stream of inconsistent constants. Memories, thoughts, emotions, experiences...they are gone as soon as they happen. We are mere moments linked together. It's no wonder I feel the need to do, actions are what propel the flow of being. We create and recreate.

Just Be Nature

Nature is the quintessential example of pure existence. Or so it seems from my current knowledge of how nature works...there is likely far more, but I am observing from the outside. Humans are nature, but we have, to a certain extent, separated from it in its conventional sense. We've built homes, we've banished dirt from the floors, we've expelled animals from our living quarters. We live in nature, but we don't live among it. Nature flows. It is resilient, but it does not defy change or resist growth. It just is. Nature is content with being. Growth corresponds with environmental fluctuations, and there is beauty in both blossom and wilt. We all wilt sometimes, though we tend to only embrace blossom. A plant may retire for a season, but this retirement is not failure - it returns again with newfound rejuvenation and life. I am learning the value of allowing respite to recharge. A flower does not run from the rain, but is instead rooted and grounded in the soil, having committed to an unadulterated experience of earth. I want my roots in the soil, too. Bathe me in the elements, I'm ready to "just be".