Breathe

Spring has arrived and there is beautiful evidence of rebirth everywhere. The sun rises and the sun sets, life continues. So too with each breath there is a beginning and an end and then there is the next breath. In a sense a rebirth in each moment. Yet it is so very hard to look at each moment as each moment. I carry into the next moment all the history of the past moments.

I remember when I was learning to surf - I had no idea what would happen next. I could not predict when I would catch a wave, I could no know when I would find the right balance to stand and it was all happening so fast there was no time to think, only to act. I could only paddle as hard as I could, then push down on the board and pop up to standing. Then I was either on the beach or in the water, swimming to the surface.

One day I missed catching the wave and the water pushed me face first hard into the ocean floor and held me there. Surfing was never the same after that. I paddled and yet never quite hard enough. I resisted the force and flow of the water. I carried the memory and fear of that fall into my next moments with the waves.

Can I look at each moment with a beginner's mind and paddle as hard as I can, fearless of the outcome? Or at least with enough courage to try as hard as I can and know I may still be pushed to the ground? What do I tell the students in my Yoga class when I ask them to be courageous? "Stay with your breath, focus your attention on the rhythm of your breath; breathe all the way in and out." Practice. Sounds so simple, but not all the waves are as apparent as the ones in the ocean.