A friend from my SomaYoga Teacher Training shared this from one of her friends in our online homework forum:
Mindfulness asks us to awaken to life
(not always pleasant or easy)
and self-compassion comes in to help us
cherish ourselves during this awakening.
I’m struck that, with the goal of awakening, we’re often taught to empty ourselves, to clear our minds, to become still, silent, vast, spacious. It’s no wonder that some part of us rebels!
Yes, we need this calming of the mind, this inner quiet and emptiness—but it is not the be all and end all of spiritual enlightenment. [Gasp!]
We also need the cherishing, the compassion, the love of Being.
Our True Nature is both. Our lives need both. To be complete and whole, we need both.
We need to live in the world, without believing all the thoughts of our minds, open to spaciousness and clarity.
And we need to LIVE in the world, with our hearts and bodies alive and brimming with juicy passion, desire, authenticity, strength, love, and, oh, so much more!
This is the real measure of our awakening—living our realization with mindful awareness and compassion. With our True Mind and our True Heart online. With the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine guiding us.
When I live from this place, I know what I want, what I love, and I am sweet and compassionate with myself when I can’t have it, or when I behave less than skillfully. I have practices that support Quiet Mind and non-attachment, and I have practices that grow compassion and love. My practice actually affects my life, making me a more real, authentic, compassionate, contactful, clear, and awake human being.
I must bring my realization off my mat—whether it be yoga, tai chi, meditation, prayer, or any other practice—into my real, lived life.
What practices support you in developing both awakeness and compassion? What fruits of your practice do you recognize in your lived life?
Nourishing Wholeness 