She Let Go - a poem by the Reverend Saffire Rose
She let go, without a thought or a word, she let go.
She let go of the fear, she let go of the judgement,
She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.She let go of the committee of indecision within her.
She let go of all the right reasons, wholly and completely without hesitation of worry. She just let go.
She didn't ask anyone for advice, she didn't read a book on how to let go. She didn't search the scriptures. She just let go.
She let go of all the memories that held her back.
She let go of all the anxiety that kept her from moving forwards.
She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.
She didn't promise to let go. She didn't journal about it.
She didn't write the projected date in her day planner.
She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper. She didn't check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.
She just let go.
She didn't analyse whether she should let go.
She didn't call her friends to discuss the matter.
She didn't do a five step spiritual mind treatment.
She didn't call the prayer line. She didn't utter one word.
She just let go.
No-one was around when it happened. There was no applause or congratulations. No one thanked her or praised her. No one noticed a thing. Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.
There was no effort, there was no struggle. It wasn't good and it wasn't bad. It was what it was and it is just that. In the space of letting go she let it all be. A small smile came over her face A light breeze blew through her and the sun and the moon shone for evermore.
As great as the infinite space beyond is the space within the lotus of the heart. Both heaven and earth are contained in that inner space, both fire and air, sun and moon, lightning and stars. Whether we know it in this world or know it not, everything is contained in that inner space.
Changdoga Upanishad
Zen Story - Going with the Flow
A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive. "I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."
Affirmations Ideas
Have you ever panicked when your yoga teacher asks you to set an intention for your practice ? I know I have. There is a tendency to overcomplicate here, to try and come up with something truly profound and personally meaningful. I've found that having some suggested intentions can really help to allow a gentle and true intention to rise without all the effort, judgement and editing that blurs the simplicity of the concept.
So, here are a few ideas:
I feel deeply rooted. I am connected to my body. I feel safe and secure. Just like a tree or a star I have a right to be here. I stand up for my values, for truth and justice. I have everything I need inside of me. I nurture my body. I remain open to the possibilities that might unfold today and every day. I am grateful for all the challenges I have overcome that brought me to this point. I trust in the goodness of life. I trust my own instinctive nature, I am my own best teacher. More and More I love myself exactly as I am. I choose to live my life the way that brings me happiness. I am centered, I am balanced, I am at peace. I let go of what was, I accept what is, I manifest what will be.
Delicious vegan bread - served up at our Yoga & Gut Health Workshop in February 2020.
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.