Tag: compassion

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The best way out is always through

Resilient tree growing through a fence
A resilient tree shows us the way through

Resilience. That’s what comes to mind each day as I pass this tree on my walks around the neighbourhood. Resilience in the face of suffering. Perseverance in the midst of pain. 

You might have seen this unusual tree in the photos I shared on Instagram last week as we saw yet another stay-at-home order announced. I offered it as a reminder that we have within us the strength to overcome whatever challenges stand in our way, to make it through to the other side – we need only find a way to connect to it.

Sometimes the challenges we encounter are of our own making, and sometimes they’re beyond our control, arriving seemingly out of nowhere – like this fence. We could be going about our business, this tree was simply growing in the forest, and suddenly something stops us in our tracks. To be honest, I’ve found myself in that very situation in recent months: stopped in my tracks by unexpected health problems. In the face of challenge, in the face of pain and suffering, how do we connect with our inner strength and resilience and harness its power to guide us safely through?

For me, this connection comes through mindfulness, which of course, can take many shapes and forms. Asana and pranayama, the postures and breathwork of yoga, help me release tension and create space in body and mind so that I can open my awareness to signals arising within. Meditation deepens my practice of svadhyaya (self-study) and santosha (contentment) as I observe, notice, embrace my experience without judgment or attachment, with lovingkindness and compassion. I invite mindfulness into my favourite everyday activities – gardening, baking, walking in nature. I give thanks for the many blessings in my life, without glossing over the fact that I’ve lost my job, that I’m struggling with health issues, that I’m tired of being stuck at home in lockdown. I remind myself of the vital importance of self-love, self-care, self-compassion, and self-acceptance. Connecting to the present moment through these practices fosters in me a deeper connection to myself, a greater awareness of who I am beneath all the mental busyness, beneath the self-doubt, the pain, the expectations and uncertainties.

In his poem A Servant to Servants, Robert Frost wrote that “the best way out is always through” and I believe that’s just what mindfulness teaches us. We learn to welcome the present moment exactly as it is – its joy and its pain, its triumph and its sorrow. We learn to practice acceptance of what is rather than fear of what might be or regret for what was. We take it day by day, moment by moment, breath by breath. We make our way through the challenges, fueled by strength and resilience we’ve cultivated within, and like this extraordinary tree, we keep reaching our branches to the sky.

Tree branches reaching to the sky
Branches reaching to the sky
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The student’s journey

Yogacharya B.K.S. Iyengar

During seventy-three years of teaching and practising, I have observed that some students pay attention only to the physical aspect of yoga. Their practice is like a fast-flowing stream, tumbling and falling, which lacks depth and direction. By attending to the mental and spiritual side, a sincere student of yoga becomes like a smoothly flowing river which helps to irrigate and fertilize the land around it. Just as one cannot dip into the same river twice, so each and every asana refreshes your life force with new energy.

~BKS Iyengar, in Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health


I recently had the good fortune to attend a screening of a documentary entitled Iyengar: The Man, Yoga, and The Student’s Journey. Filmed before his passing in 2014, its release last year honoured the 100th anniversary of his birth. The film was inspiring on so many levels, and though it provided less insight into Mr. Iyengar’s early years than I had hoped for, it more than made up for it through stories of the profound effects his teachings have had on so many lives. I was particularly pleased to see Father Joe Pereira featured with his Kripa Foundation work that brings the healing benefits of Iyengar yoga to those suffering from addiction and HIV/AIDS (you may recall an earlier post I wrote about Father Joe and what an extraordinary experience it is to study with him). For me, some of the most memorable scenes in the film involve Mr. Iyengar’s granddaughter, Abhijata. We see her practicing asana intensely, with strict guidance and adjustments from her grandfather and other teachers, and she tells us, “It appears my grandfather teaches me asanas, but if I had to sum it up now, he is teaching me how to search for meaning in anything I do. He is teaching me huge concepts.” This is the true essence of yoga.

Most often we come to yoga through asana, the postures, and we arrive on our mat expecting a purely physical practice. However, if we are paying attention, we realise that the postures are merely a gateway, leading to a vast expanse of knowledge and exploration and connection. We begin a journey that lasts a lifetime, slowly peeling back the layers to reveal our innermost self, to attain what Mr. Iyengar called true alignment: “Yoga helps to integrate the mental and physical plane, bringing about a sense of inner and outer balance, or what I term alignment. True alignment means that the inner mind reaches every cell and fibre of the body.” This journey towards true alignment begins on our mat, but it does not remain there – the lessons we learn in each and every practice, through each and every asana, begin to colour and shape how we view and interact with the world around us.

Mr. Iyengar defined yoga as “the union of the individual self with the universal self.” His teachings embodied the eight-limbed path set out in the Yoga Sutra by the sage Patanjali: Yama (ethical behaviour), Niyama (restraint/discipline), Asana (posture), Pranayama (expansion of vital energy, the breath), Pratyahara (detachment of the senses), Dharana (focused attention), Dhyana (prolonged concentration, meditation), Samadhi (“when the knower, the knowable, and the known become one”). Deep exploration of this eight-limbed path takes a lifetime (or many lifetimes), but I believe that we can be forever changed even by taking the first step on this path: by embracing the first Yama, Ahimsa. Ahimsa translates as non-violence – toward ourselves, others, the world around us, non-violence in our thoughts, words and deeds. To me, an equally apt definition of Ahimsa would be compassion. When we practice yoga, we learn to be compassionate toward ourselves, and as we direct compassion inward, we begin to radiate it outward to all those we encounter. As Abhijata said, yoga is teaching us huge concepts – we need only open and awaken to these lessons and let them unite us with something greater than our individual self.

If you have the opportunity to see this documentary, I highly recommend it. In the meantime, I share with you the trailer for a glimpse of the film’s wisdom and insight.


Iyengar: The Man, Yoga & The Student’s Journey
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Spring cleaning

Spring has finally arrived! Though outside my window there is a decidedly wintry wind blowing now, the sight of robins in the grass tells me that spring is here. The spring equinox this year coincided with a Super Moon, apparently the first time this has happened since 1905 and it will not happen again until 2144. How fortunate that we were here to see it, and what an extraordinary way to begin a season that invites us to explore new opportunities and possibilities.

In spring we can see new beginnings everywhere, we need only look – buds on the trees, tiny blooms poking through the soil, longer days and warmer temperatures that signal the arrival of a new season. Winter is a natural time for introspection, turning toward ourselves to explore our inner landscape. Maybe this winter you became reacquainted with yourself, reconnected with the light and wisdom and beauty that is you…or maybe you did not. Inner work takes time and patience and commitment and maybe this was not something you were ready to do this winter. Reassure yourself with kindness that that’s okay. It’s spring now, winter is in the past so we let it go without judgment or regret for what might have been, what we might have done. Luckily, there is never a wrong time for inward reflection, and the arrival of spring encourages us to do some inner work now – some interior spring cleaning to sweep away the old, the limiting, the unhealthy, the unwanted, to make space for what is new. What can we clear out? Old habits, unhealthy behaviours, fear and shame and malice, thoughts and feelings and preconceptions that no longer serve us. Just as we clean out our closets, donating clothes we no longer need to make room for new spring additions, so too can we clean out those inner places where we store old feelings, expectations, and beliefs that no longer resonate with who we are today and who we may be in the future.

Traditional Chinese Medicine confirms that spring is a time for clearing out. The season of spring is associated with the Liver and Gallbladder organ systems, which govern the flow of our chi (energy), our inner disposition, and our detoxification processes. When our liver chi is unbalanced, we can feel defensive, agitated, angry, and unable to think or act decisively. Healthy liver/gallbladder chi enables us to make plans and put them into action, to follow our path in life and to regain equilibrium when unexpected challenges threaten to knock us off course. Healthy liver chi also connects us to our innate capacity for compassion – towards ourselves and others. It is this compassion that can help us to recognise and release what no longer serves us, what might be hurting or holding us back, so that we can create space to welcome something new.

As the signs of spring slowly appear, let this be an opportunity for you to refresh and renew your inner landscape. With compassion and lovingkindness, examine some of your habits and patterns, your recurring thoughts and feelings, judgments and expectations. Is there anything that no longer resonates with you, that no longer serves a positive role, that might hold you back as you seek to move forward on your path? Give thanks for whatever lessons they have taught you, and then let them go. Make room for what is new – new ideas, new adventures, new paths forward. Welcome the new growth and possibility of spring.