Yes it's daylight savings and we had an opportunity to sleep in or have that extra hour to run around the house re-setting all the clocks that hadn't changed automatically (although I still don't completely trust the auto-change when setting my alarm the night before! )
This week's dharma talk centered around the concept of FEELINGS vs. EMOTIONS. To quote B.K.S. Iyengar in Light On Life (p. 85 if you have the book), "To feel is a verb. It is something that happens. We all feel. Emotion is a noun, a thing. To feel is beautiful, belonging to both the animal and human condition. When we allow feelings to harden and coalesce into emotions, which we transport like overburdened slaves, we deny ourselves life's freshness, its ever-present potential for renewal and transformation."
Sound familiar? Have you ever carried around emotional baggage from a past experience and let it control how a new experience plays out?... sometimes sabotaging a situation that could have been spectacular? Frustration, anger, sadness, joy (although that would be a wonderful thing to feel all the time!) etc. are all emotions as reactions to something that already happened. As yogis we are constantly reminded to stay in the moment, be present, let things go, don't judge, don't attach and many more catch phrases that encourage us to look upon each new experience as it happens, with fresh eyes and a clear, unaffected perspective. How often do we miss seeing something as it truly is because our view is jaded by our emotion?
"In a healthy organism, feelings should pass like clouds over the sun. When feelings get anchored by thought into our memory, they become emotions, which are no longer related to the moment but to the past. They accrue a greater density and darkness, like storm clouds that block out the sun itself. These stagnant emotions poison us and prevent us from seeing what truly is."
Today is a new season, a new month. It is the eve of a new week, a new day. As we reset our clocks, let's reset our perspective and our approach. Leave the past in the past along with all of the accompanying emotions that may cloud our minds and bodies and breath. Wipe the slate clean to FEEL each new response based solely upon what is happening NOW. Then, let that go and make room for the next feeling, and so on and so on. A consistent pattern of feel, acknowledge and release will open the space we need to recognize and embrace all of the glorious possibilities that each new moment has to offer.
Sure we "fall behind" and temporarily lose an hour of daylight and sunshine, BUT with removing the dismal overcast of our somber emotions, we're free to feel our own true light shine through!
A few poses to assist in emotional release: Hip openers: Pigeon Pose (EkaPadaRajakapotasana - *can open the emotional floodgates!) , Yogi Squat (Malasana), Bound Angle Pose (Baddha Konasana), Frog Pose (Mandukasana.) Heart Openers: Cobra (Bhujangasana), Camel Pose (Ustrasana), Bow Pose (Dhanurasana), Wheel (Urdhva Dhanurasana).
🙏🌞💖
