Nature Revealing Itself

I was at Kripalu this weekend, spending time with my teachers Krishna Das and Nina Rao. One of the experiences offered by the venue was a mindful kayak outing. This involved a two hour silent paddling excursion on the Mahkeenac Stockbridge Bowl Lake and a guided meditation in the middle of it. When we got to the mid point the guide/teacher asked us to share some of the things we observed during our time paddling in silence. Someone brought up the beginning of the leafs turning colors so the woman guiding the tour shared an insight which stuck with me, as I feel it directly relates to what we are doing when we practice, each time we show up but also what our processes continue to do in the space between practices. She said:

“All the colors are always there, but we don’t see them until the fall. During the transition from summer to fall the chlorofill begins to travel back from the leaf, into the branches and gets pulled into the center of the trunk. This allows for all the other colors to show themselves. But they were always there, they were just covered.”

You may have had the experience in your practice of tapping into a space of oneness, where all falls away and you feel home within the silence of your Self. That is the experience of the presence of pure consciousness that is at the core of all. It’s always there, but the senses are constantly busying the mind with external matters, pulling us outwards and into memory, emotion, ect. When we practice we are essentially exerting our will so that we can begin to pull back the attention of the sense organs and turn inwards towards the Self, in it’s purest form. When we are able to do that we abide in the experience of peace, of union, of Yoga. That's always there, but we don’t pay attention to it enough.

Blog post by Bibi Lorenzetti. Join us in exploring practice!