Action And Reward

You were never born; you will never die…Unborn, eternal, immutable, immemorial, you do not die when the body dies. — The Bhagavad Gita, translation by Eknath Easwaran (“The Gita”), 2.20

It’s undeniable that there’s more to this world, this life, this existence when one closes one's eyes to meditate — we touch into this place, this stillness, this peace, this roaring silence, this from which everything emerges.

It can be blissful, terrifying, beautiful, dark, bright, alluring, repelling.

As we begin to realize, remember, this truth, how do we reconcile our life and the needs of this body…with this greater reality? How do we meet injustice? After learning to touch this place of emptiness in meditation, how do we bridge, integrate? Yoga has become increasingly helpful on this part of the path.

Particularly in asana practice, in these embodied movements, touching this still place as the body begins to move, as the muscles stretch, grow. As I meet the discomforts of this body, this life.

For years, I approached yoga with a goal — to become more limber, more peaceful. And I achieved the opposite.

It is only as I’ve begun to let go in my practice, surrender, that this body-heart-mind has found the space it’s needed to feel, to process, to heal, and then…to begin to release, in its own time.

The wise see that there is action in the midst of inaction and inaction in the midst of action. Their consciousness is unified, and every act is done with complete awareness. — The Gita, 4.18.

This is my practice.