Happy New Now
Welcome to January and a new year, at least according to the Gregorian calendar. There is a recent estimate that approximately 40 different calendars are used in the world today. Our January 4th was the New Years Day on the Islamic calendar. In a few weeks we will have the Chinese New Year. Late September will bring Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. So, why then do we put so much importance on the idea of a “new” year? Why do we put such pressure to create change on one specific day of the year when our existence is a series of beginning and ends?
There is always a new beginning. I feel like that is the root of hope. We can start anew every second of every day. Instead of a new year we can celebrate a new now. I like this saying from Eckhart Tolle, the original “Mr. Now”,
“The eternal present is the space within which your whole life unfolds.
Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now”
But what does our mind do? We habitually resist now. If we are living in the past or the future then we are missing now, and our lives slip away.
This is the beauty of yoga, breath, and meditation practices. These encourage us to stay present where we are and hopefully embodied. In these routines, there is a moment of pause or a sattvic space. This place of presence, balance, harmony, and deep peace. This can become a habitual state. Then we are not carrying the baggage of the past or the anxiety of the future we will experience ourselves as clear, light and fully alive.
In the breath there is the moment of retention when the inhale is becoming an exhale and then when the exhale is becoming an inhale. When we rest in that gap, the pause where stillness is, and when we learn to listen to silence, we are in the Now. This is because silence carries the present moment. Once we learn to listen to the silence it is easy to move into the presence and create stillness within us. All it takes is an openness, surrender, non-judgment, and non-attachment. Remember it is called “practice” for a reason.
Now, just to be clear, I am not bagging on new year’s resolutions or celebrations, but they need not be saved for one day. We can experience the celebration of the present always. When we let go of the rigidity of the mind and exist in the fluid presence of now, all things are possible.
Speaking of resolutions if you have already broken them then I have a workshop for you. My annual Resolutions to Rituals workshop will be at Metta Yoga on Sunday, January 23rd. We have a tendency to make resolutions with the ego or through willpower rather than from the devotional heart. When we create rituals, they are much easier to maintain. In this workshop we will explore daily Ayurvedic routines to implement for your health and ease. I hope you will join me either in person or online. You can find the link to register {here}.
In February, Tyler and I will be leading a partner yoga class. This will not be acro-yoga. Instead, we will be working with our partner to go deeper into the postures, build connections and support each other. I hope you can join us at Metta Yoga on Saturday, February 12th from 5-7. This can be a date night or bring a friend, roommate, coworker or another warm body to practice with. More information and registration can be found {here}.
From: January 2022 Newsletter