Keeping Your Way

I just finished Light On Life by B.K.S. Iyengar, which is full of all sorts of wisdom and inspiration. This line really stuck with me, as it’s been the case repeatedly in my life lately. I’m going to add this one to my wall on a Post-It note along with “Fear not moving slowly, fear only standing still” and “Do not strive to be perfect, strive to be imperfect in a beautiful way.” I already returned the book to the library, so I’ll paraphrase.

When something happens, do not be blown off course. When nothing happens, do not lose your way.

And the idea is that yoga will help you accomplish these things. I feel like the first, the getting caught in a storm, is usually focused on as the primary danger, while the second, getting bored or complacent, is much more common and much less talked about. I’ve been having a month or so of nothing happening, but I’m justifying it as gearing up for a 10-day Vipassana silent meditation retreat. No reading, no writing, no eye-contact, no exercise. It will probably be pretty intense, so I’m fine with slowing down a bit to get into the right mindset for sitting quietly 10 hours a day. I’m going to miss yoga, though. I’ll let you know how it goes!