Essential Emptiness

At the conclusion of last weekend’s Grounding in Gratitude workshop, one of the participants expressed her appreciation for the “long” final relaxation after the postural practice. In fact, it lasted only five minutes, though I fully appreciate how a good Savasana can wonderfully warp our sense of time. 
 
Acknowledging our need for deep rest, the group remarked on how tough it can be - even for those of us who know better - to give ourselves the time and space for it. I think there are some good reasons why we might resist giving ourselves permission to do nothing, even just for a few minutes. Yet, when we consider how life works, it seems like us humans are outliers in our compulsion for activity. 
 
Life on every level occurs as an ever-dynamic dance of arising and subsiding, creation and dissolution, activity and rest in equal measure. The wave dissolves back into the vastness of the ocean. The outbreath releases into emptiness, allowing for the next inbreath to arise. 

Everywhere we look, letting go is the most natural of life’s processes and an essential part of the creative cycle. It’s only in releasing fully that something new has space to emerge.
 
November in my area is the epitome of the letting go part of the cycle. The trees have now returned their energy to the earth, their branches are bare, and the air no longer hums with the sounds of birds and insects.  All of nature is going dormant, getting quiet, and graciously giving way to the turn of the season. 

Likewise, in allowing ourselves to rest, we return our energy back to the source place from which all activity arises. In doing so, we align ourselves with natural cycles of life and move into harmony with the grand and awesome pulsation of existence itself.