Can I get off here, please?

Dear Yogis,

This week I launched my March Meditation “pool” and attendance has been steadily increasing.  Now a virtual community of 32 people all testing the waters of change individually, yet supported by a group all beginning to swim in the same direction……….upstream.

The current of our world today is one of constant doing.  Moving from the bed, to the shower, the car, office, meeting, an event, a quick dinner and off to bed to do it all over again.  Our society rewards action.  Accomplishment.  And material wealth.  Not a lot of kudos for having meditated today. 

So the easy path is to just follow along, swept up by technology and the internet, taking any free moment to send texts and post to Facebook.   As long as we are in motion, there is not time to consider if we are content.  No time to go inside and find out if we are fulfilled. 

My hair salon has put 3 large screen tvs on the wall, all with different shows that you can view as you put your head back for a shampoo.  Are we that unable to be with ourselves that we must be entertained during a shampoo?  How about the tvs at the gas pump?   I get startled every single time I hear that unexpected loud “hello!”  On my recent plane ride, the tvs on the back of every seat play a continuous stream of commercials if you don’t pay the $8 to get the movie.  And amazingly almost no one turned theirs off for the full 4 hour flight. 

In response to my invitation to join, one person commented that “we are all screaming for meditation”.    But do we even have the time to do it.  And this week I heard several conversations around the need to “get away from here”.     In other words – Can I get off here, please?.   We all feel it and intellectually know that this way of living and its exponential speeding up each year, is not sustainable.  And for some of us who can and choose to, moving away from a city does offer some relief.

But the real change must come from within (as all change does).  One at a time we must stop, get grounded and find the peace within, and then be willing to turn and swim against the current.  It isn’t the “world” that is causing our stress and sleepless nights.  The world is not some third party.  The world is us.  And what we all asked for and wanted, we know have.  There is no one to blame.  But we have the ability to want differently for our futures.  And meditation is a great place to start. 

As more and more of us begin to swim against the current, our strength and intention will shift the waters.   Remember, our outer lives are only a reflection of our inner world.

If anyone else wants to join into our March Meditation, or you know someone who does, send me a note!

Diving in head first with no fear,

SARAH

sarah@serenitycircleyoga.com