Return to Rest

Hello beautiful soul, 

There is nothing that arises in us that needs getting rid of. Nothing needs fixing. There is no solution, because there is no problem. There is no perfection because it doesn’t exist.  

We spend an exhausting amount of time on trying to fix or get rid of things in our lives. Especially feelings that we judge and consequently try to be rid of. We think this is good, that we are improving and growing. That we are staying positive.  It’s neither good nor bad, yet when we recognise the seeking energy within us that desires improvement, we have the capacity to  let it go and relax into the depths of restfulness. When the minds incessant seeking stops we discover we are already what we have been looking and searching for. 

What are we looking for? What is it we want more than anything else? 

R E S T

Feelings of restfulness, relaxed in our body and mind, love, peacefulness 

Jeff Foster, author, recently wrote a book called THE WAY OF REST, and he found that this feeling of rest is the number one thing that people want. They may use a different word, but essentially its that feeling of ‘all is well, and a deep inner sense of resting.  

In the practice of yin yoga we discover that the ease of lying on the floor and stretching the body is only a part of the practice. The stillness of holding a pose for 3 minutes (or longer) is usually when we begin to consciously notice the rampant activity of the mind and the numerous thoughts tumbling one on top of the other. This is not so easy to be with for many of us. 

I know people who don’t like yin yoga, or meditation for this very reason. The thinking mind with incessant thoughts running drives them crazy and they don’t know how to deal with it. Busying ourselves in life is an attempt to distract ourselves from the busy mind.

In the practice, we begin to cultivate our innate capacity to witness and watch what arises in us on all levels, physically, mentally, emotionally. We develop a strength to remain as the observer. We stay present, ride the waves of pleasure and discomfort and begin to notice how all of it comes and goes and that what our mind thinks is not reality.

,The desire for REST comes when we feel exhausted in life and this exhaustion comes from our resistance to what is. Resistance in the forms of trying to escape or be rid of, or deny, takes enormous amounts of energy.

We don’t have to ‘get’ rest. It is there as our natural state when we let go of the resistance to what is happening moment to moment. We return to what is always there, always has been…. a restful  presence.

Love and gratitude,