.......vertical living

Yogis,
While listening to an interview with Eckhart Tolle, a contemporary German born spiritual teacher, there was one image he used to describe time, and really life itself, that struck a chord. It has me viewing life from a different perspective. The image is of a cross.

Here was the basic tenet. The cross is made up of two pieces that exist on different planes. First there is the horizontal plane symbolizing how we view our time here as a human.  One end is our birth and the opposite end death. And everything in between is what we define as ‘our ‘life’. Education, experiences, marriage, children, careers, travel, material possessions, joys, sorrows……all happening on this straight line that runs from side to side.

We spend most of our time on this horizontal plane. Everything we do is ‘on the way’ to the next thing that we are going to do. I will get good grades in high school, in order to get high test scores, to be accepted into a competitive college, so I can get a good job allowing me to buy the house that I will fill with possessions. And there is nothing wrong with this way of life.

Yet there exists another plane. A vertical one and it is where it intersects the horizontal line that we discover this moment. The now. The here. The present (which by the way, is all that exists……)

The horizontal line, while long, is the surface. With our eyes trained straight ahead into what we believe to be the future, what lies above and below is blurry. It’s as if on a hot day we are walking along the banks of the lake and commenting on how pretty it looks when we finally decide to dive in. Only then do we realize the depths that this moment holds. The experience of feeling, tasting and smelling the water. Soaring downward before being lifted up toward the sun. Every sense organ awakened. Aliveness! Vertical living.

This moment, no matter when you become quiet and still enough to notice it, is always that deep. It is a full body immersion. Both up and down.

I find it helpful to create an image of this to use when I want to land here. One I am using is that as I stand tall, I am the vertical plane. Therefore, every time I stop I can open awareness to what is here. Two steps forward on the horizontal…..stop…..stand and be. Noticing what is happening over my head, around my body and below my feet. Standing inside the moment. The other is the diving into this moment. The actual image of diving in. Another option might be immersing yourself, like lowering yourself into a deep warm tub.

Yesterday I went down to the river and sat on a rock. It always takes five or ten minutes for my mind to slow down enough to find and greet the body. That’s when I fully arrive.

I noticed them. Six merganser baby birds being taught how to swim upstream.  They gathered in a group while the parents gave instructions. Bunched together they kicked as mightily as they could and had much to say about it all, until they were given the nod to relax and float downstream. This was followed by diving lessons. Some cue was silently given sending them all underwater one by one. Gone from sight. Below the surface. Quiet…..until each little head popped up with much exuberance.

Witnessing this with the breeze at my back, the warmth of the sun on my face and surrounded by the sounds, smells and beauty of the river, I had dived into the moment. It was magical.

Going deep,
SARAH