Enjoy The Dance (For My Daughter)

I first want to thank everyone, deeply, for the beautiful conversation that flowed from yesterday's post.  I am in awe of the response it received and am grateful for each person who shared their own story.  That many of us are going through this is disheartening but to know that change is possible (indeed, is always occurring) and that we are not alone?  Empowering.

There is no way I can "top" that last post, so I will not even try.  Today, I move into this space, this awareness, and celebrate it just as much.

And possibly, I celebrate a bit more.

I dedicate this post to my daughter, who was born into this world 4 years ago this morning.

***

I wish for you as I wish for myself.

That we move through this life awake, experiencing each moment mindfully, and amidst a peaceful practice of lessening suffering.

I have found over the past several years it is the practice that delights me - not the goal.  I've long been one of those types that starts many things but does not finish them.  It is the process of exploration that delights me...until it no longer does.  And silently I slip off to exploring other worlds.

While I delight in this constant movement, I also have learned to work more on discipline.  It is the discipline that allows me to go deep enough into a practice to find the wisdom - to embody the practice.  Otherwise, I flutter from interest to interest, gaining little and exhausting myself.

This play between movement and discipline is a constant theme in my life, and yet I have long fought with tension.  I've either struggled towards greater discipline (I must eat better!  I must get on the yoga mat more regularly, exercise more regularly, set rules, schedules, plans...!) or run blindly towards swirled movement (Stacks of books from the library, classes on everything from drawing to yoga to Photoshop to anatomy, clearing everything that could be considered "scheduled").

I smile even now.

I realize (and forget again and again) that it is the dance of these, the play of the movement and the discipline, that is my life.  It is as if I am fighting to use just my right leg or my left to walk...I'll never get very far that way.  And think of it - even the picture of someone stepping again and again with just one leg and eventually tumbling into the splits makes me giggle!  

Such is life and the struggles we face.

I invite you to explore this dance with me further.  21 Secrets opens tomorrow, along with my class on Yoga + Art.  These disciplines are practices that allow me to move, to explore - within the "structure" of a path.  I created this entire course so that we could each be re-minded and practice together.

You can learn more and sign up HERE.

Regardless of whether or not you will be joining me there, I invite you to take a breath - right now - and smile.  (Seriously, pull those corners of your mouth up and smile.)  

Look at your own struggles, your own movement, your own discipline...allow yourself to tumble, giggle, and begin the awkward and joyful dance of life again and again.

Namaste.