On « when things do not happen according to plan ».

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And here comes the lesson again.

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I had a plan (to hold a yoga retreat this week end to illustrate the point) and Life threw an important obstacle (here, a cyclone!), disturbing « the » Plan.

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And yes, again, the initial reaction: contraction!

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How many times do we react like that at first? We contract, we withdraw and we fail at seeing Beyond « the » plan? That’s me right here, in my misery of the disturbed plan I had prepared (and visualised) for so long.

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The plan is not longer « the » plan. There is a now a « new » plan.

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I tremble in doubt and in pity.

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Don’t we often go to that space so fast? We REACT instead of RESPONDING.

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As I observe my own reaction, I realise, with I confess, a sense of lingering trouble, that I failed, at first, at responding. And yes, despite my practice, contemplations on the Self and, on this very particular subject actually.

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Like the numberless times I have tried handstands and I find myself still struggling really.

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Patterns.

Habits.

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This is what this is about.

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These are so deeply anchored in the conditioned Self.

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There are the words, and then beyond the words, how we embody them in our day to day lives.

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How can we change habitual wires inherent to years of behaving? Don’t they come back so fast if we do not pay close attention?

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Tonight I feel that the « disturbed » plan is actually THE doorway.

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Habits, patterns…these reassure us. We do & react in what we know. And how about opening up to another way?

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Responding (instead of reacting) opens a portal to be with is HERE.

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HERE is where LIFE is.

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When we are truly able to be with the new Here (not the one in my plan which no longer exists) which Here is the only one that exists, then there is Union: Yoga at its pure essence.

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I am here One with Life.

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Learning to respond to the HERE opens doors to a more fluid life, accepting what is (without the need to like it actually).

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I adapt with the current of Life, with all the rivers of Me. That’s Yoga in a purest form.

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I wish this flash of remembrance to happen in a gap of space and time that keeps narrowing.

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Maybe it will work next time better. 😵‍💫 Maybe not.

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All is good. Being alive is what matters.

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Note to myself, maybe to some of you too.

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In love with what is Here.

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by my talented friend Axelle Pendeliau Tennant