Ahh… Autumn.<\/h2>\n

Ahh… Autumn. Last weekend marked the Autumnal Equinox, that momentary glimpse of equanimity that stands at the threshold of change.\u00a0\u00a0We bear witness as the abundant light of summertime starts to give way to an influx of\u00a0darkness.\u00a0\u00a0As summer sweetly gives way to fall, nature shifts and we prepare for the sacred journey inward, to gather wisdom, integrate what have cultivated, what we have learned.\u00a0For some Fall is a time of celebration but there can be also sense that things are changing, that we are losing something or it can remind of us of things we have lost, changes that perhaps came too suddenly. \u00a0Change can come ruthlessly through illness or by losing someone we love or the more common manifestations of change in the form of relationships, jobs or habits that for whatever reason have been or need to be left behind.
\nMy colleague and dear friend, Sarah G., who is gracefully and beautifully\u00a0responding\u00a0to a big change in her life was given the following advice to help her in transition, she was told: \u00a0“Everything always happens at the most perfect time in the most perfect way for everyone involved.”
\nBeautiful, wise and true but it was Sarah’s response has stayed with me and continues to be a great source of inspiration. \u00a0She said, “Some days I want to beat that with a frying pan!” \u00a0How this makes me love her more! \u00a0Sarah has devoted herself to the practice of Yoga<\/a> and meditation for more than 20 years. \u00a0She gets it.\u00a0She is not afraid of a hard day’s work on or off her mat.\u00a0\u00a0She knows we practice to know ourselves more fully even if it isn’t always rainbows and unicorns.
\nPatanjali’s Yoga Sutras<\/a> discusses the Kleshas (CLAY-SHAS), sanskrit for the ways in which we are stuck, the ways in which our minds become clouded. \u00a0Abhinivesha (AH-BIN-EE-VAY-SHA)\u00a0is Sankrit\u00a0for\u00a0Fear of Death or Clinging to Life, it\u00a0is the fear of change,\u00a0fear of losing our identity, of who we think we are and all the many ways in which we have created our lives around this \u2018I\u2019. \u00a0Abhinivesha\u00a0is so deep seated it is said\u00a0(Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra II.9) that even the wisest of men fall over this obstacle on the path of awakening.
\nAcknowledging\u00a0failure is also part of the season of harvest. \u00a0We can learn from our mistakes and let all the ways in which we fell short become the compost that will help us grow our next dream into something more beautiful that before.
\nThe elegance of the sanskrit language is in it’s diversity of meaning. \u00a0Looking closer, “Abhi” means to move toward, “ni” means near, “vesha” means life:\u00a0Abhinivesha is our “will to live” so it can be translated as Self Love. When we\u00a0are feeling stuck or resistant to the voice of change we have to try to remember that no matter how stern that voice can be at times, it is a call to return to a place of love, to live from a place of love. \u00a0May we begin the process of deeply investigating all the ways in which we cling, the ways in which we are stuck in a rut – staying too long in relationships, jobs, or generally refusing to acknowledge some truth. \u00a0By refusing to change, we take all that is stuck with us into the next cycle.\u00a0\u00a0We have to let go in order to truly move forward. \u00a0Let your\u00a0practice be a vehicle to take you back to love. \u00a0Let the light of love be the impetus that let’s us LET GO.\u00a0\u00a0As we take our seat\u00a0in meditation, as we chant and pray, as we sweat and move in practice may we come to the realization that in order to be anything else, in order to transform, we must release that which we are clinging to. \u00a0With this comes the acceptance and the knowing that everything is as it should be. \u00a0 And on the days we can’t wrap our minds and our hearts around this truth, it is also okay “to beat that with a frying pan.”
\nNo matter what, we can’t give up, stand tall, keep trying to lift up our eyes, lift up our heart and soften into the grace that is everywhere. \u00a0And through it all, reach out, we are not alone, together we come together, in the company of a good heart we take solace in Autumn. \u00a0Peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last weekend marked the Autumnal Equinox, that momentary glimpse of equanimity that stands at the threshold of change. We bear witness as the abundant light of summertime starts to give way to an influx of darkness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n