The Great Unknown

The more I learn, the less I know...over the past five years that I have been studying yoga this is the only thing I know for sure. Not knowing has been the great liberator of my mind. I am a type A personality who wants to get it right, do it perfectly or not at all. When I completed my initial 200 hour training in 2017 I thought I knew the basics, but the more I’ve studied, the more I feel I’ve only scratched the surface. It’s in the moment I think I know something for sure I have lost my sense of wonder and curiosity. I don’t believe in mastering a posture. Each posture matures over time. They are forever shapeshifting and transforming through the seasons, breath and body. The study of yoga is a deep well, may it continue to quench our thirst. Be a seeker of wisdom with a curious mind.

Our thoughts and opinions can create joy as well as suffering. Knowing, instead of being curious about how else we can see a situation puts us in a place of limited thinking. I believe Albert Einstein said it best,

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

Imagination and curiosity are the well of wisdom that comes from within. They are the quiet voice of spirit. Once we think we know something, our minds are closed to other possibilities.

“We cling to our own points of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.” Chuang Tzu

On the first day of my Yin Yoga training, my teacher, Kari Kwinn shared “There is more than one right way to do everything.” I have been living into those words ever since, in life, as well as in yoga. The moment I think I know or I am right, I have made someone or something wrong. It’s no longer a question of either/or...but more importantly it’s both/and. I can speak and live my truth just as another can speak and live their truth. Daily I practice acceptance and understanding versus being right or wrong. I don’t desire to be right, but rather I desire to be heard and understood for who I am or how I show up in any given moment.

I think Cloud Cult sings it best in, The Great Unknown

“We were made to walk through fire in our dance shoes

We were made to sail upon the meteors.

We were made to love the heck out of our bones.

God gave us words, they were “I love you, please, and thank you”.

God gave us thirst, and it’s a hunger for the universe.

Oh, no, no, no. I’ll never let you go.

Sometimes this life’s a lonely road, but you gotta find it on your own.

So build a happy ship, cuz this livin’ is a trip.

You gotta sing the kind of song that you like singing

...to the Great Unknown.”

May we all find comfort in stepping into the unknown. To know is to be limited, but to be curious we open ourselves up to the field of possibility. May we gather in that field of possibility.

Check out my schedule and weekly classes here.

With gratitude

Love,

Rebecca