Going inward, stillness.....in the past few weeks I have talked with people who froze when I mentioned those words. Even other yoga teachers seem to fear the very thing that the movements(asanas) are designed for. I have people constantly tell me that they struggle with stillness, looking inward. When I tell them that it is a practice, most then laugh and tell me they don't have time. I hear of more and more of yoga classes cutting short the savasana, the time of rest at the end of the class.
We Americans work, or appear to work all the time....and when we aren't working, we are busy. It seems we are teaching our children to live that same life style. After school, there are sports practices, dance, gymnastics, games....when do kids play, when do they day dream about what they want to do and be, they don't have stillness or quiet time either.
Many that I know work all the time, but they don't appear to be advancing that much in their careers, or pay scales. Rick, my husband retired a year ago, but his time seems to be taken almost as much as it was when he worked a full time job.
All those time saving gadgets and appliances don't seem to be working.
When I talk about stillness, that journey of going inward, people react almost with guilt....how dare I speak of doing nothing but breathing! These are just my thoughts, but I think that we often spend our days like gerbils on a treadmill, staying busy, accomplishing little or nothing. No wonder, we have trouble sleeping at night, we can't relax, stillness scares us to death. I have had those days too, when I get home
and realize that I have accomplished nothing, I have just been spinning my wheels.
Surely we all have ten minutes a day to breathe......do we honestly have to look at Facebook, or read e-mails every hour, or check messages hourly? Five minutes in the morning, five minutes at night.....aren't we worth it????? I admit I find myself on that treadmill quite often and I have to remind myself to be aware, to be still, to go inward. All the noise, all the chatter, tv, radio, the news, I find it numbing
and I too, have to remind myself every day holds twenty-four hours and ten minutes is just for me....ten minutes for my soul to feel alive and peaceful, ten minutes for my body to refresh and relax,for my mind to clear,to take a deep breath......ten minutes, I know I am worth it.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
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What you are referring to is such a short time and yet people look at it like it was an hour and 10 minutes. The whole emphasis of my blog, The Simple Life, is supposed to point to simpler times without so much stuff and clutter, especially electronics. Even I have to force myself at times to slow down enough to breathe. Don't give up on us.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post. We should ALL just stop every now and then and, as you say, just breath and take in all the beauty of the world around us. My family are visiting from France at the moment and yesterday we went to the beach, where there is no mobile phone signal. My daughter and son-in-law said how wonderful it was to be able to just relax, switch off completely and not be interrupted by all this modern technology.
ReplyDeleteI think sometimes Jilda, that we are afraid of the quiet moments because it is in these we will meet ourselves.
ReplyDeleteSo better to run hither and yon, keep busy, make noise, to avoid the voice from within telling us our truths.
They say it is in prayer we talk to God, but it's in the silence God answers.
I do this when I go to the beach, but why shouldn't I do it when I'm at home. I think I will try to give myself 10 minutes of inner peace while listening to my favorite New Age music. Thanks for the reminder!
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