GROWING UP: GUEST BLOGGER MARA CAMPBELL
OCTOBER 7, 2009: COURTESY OF GUEST BLOGGER MARA CAMPBELL. THIS WILL BE HER THEME FOR WEDNESDAY'S CLASSES. She writes, "Many of my friends and I are turning 40 soon and I am thinking a lot about what it means to "grow up." Not in the sense that I need to get my haircut, use reading glasses and wear sensible shoes. And I don't mean becoming ultra serious about everything and loosing the fun and innocence of life. But what I mean is a spiritual growing up. Growing up to feel more at home with myself and knowing I am bringing my very best self to my friends, family and the world as much as I can.
Lately, it seems the energy of people I know is low as the weather has turned cool and rainy. You can literally feel the heaviness in folks. I feel it too in my body and more importantly in my heart. My usual mode is to over analyze by trying to figure out the why I feel the way I do or trying to "process" my feelings. My mind wants to figure it out, make a plan to fix it and oh, maybe get a book on it!
But lately, I've had a new idea. Maybe what I need is to light my own fire both in my body and my heart with more action and less thoughts. For my body, it means yoga. It means getting out the mat and the meditation cushion even when I don't want to. And for lighting my heart...well it means I need to love even when I don't want to. I need to look at my dog, my spouse or my children and tap into the love I have for them and they have for me and remember how good this feels.
Rolf Gates says, "The aim of spiritual practice is to deliberately cultivate insight and to instill in ourselves the strength we need for courageous action. Dhyana is the place where action and insight become one." Dhyana is one of the 8 limbs of yoga and is typically translated as meditation or stillness. It is from this centered place where we begin to see ourselves a little more clearly, recognizing our childlike patterns (not judging them or beating ourselves up for them!) and begin to make decisions for our own spiritual growth. We all need to be our own good mommies and daddies....only you know what you need best and what will truly feed you and your own spiritual growth.
So please join me this week as I will lead you in a heart meditation to help us all tap into our hearts and the love that is all around us. I promise you it is there. Sometimes we just need to get ourselves and our over zealous minds out of the way. When we know what we have to do for ourselves, our families, and our world, and we do it, even if it is not convenient or easy,....well that for me is growing up. And the funny thing is....I feel lighter when I act from this place....more like a child!"