less is MORE

I’m on a little work vacation up in New Hampshire on Lake Winnipesaukee right now, and as the days start to get cooler and the leaves just begin to turn there is a clear message in the air. I hear it as “less is more.”

Autumn teaches us this in such a beautiful way. I’ve always loved being in the woods and exploring the natural world, I think this is why I’ve been so attracted to Yoga and Qigong. They are derived from and embody the wisdom of nature.

I’ve recently been contemplating the importance of stripping away the layers. Many traditions called this different things. Some reference it as peeling away the onion, some reference it as burning away the false layers, some reference it as a healing. But in each of these traditions, we arrive at the essential self, the essential you, the essential me. 

Who is this essential self? It’s unique to each and everyone of us, but interconnected as well. Same, same, but different.

 From this essential self, original you, the core of who we are, we can arrive fully in the here and now. It’s simple, but not necessarily easy. This is where we lean into practices!

One of the Goddesses in Tantra expresses “we can never lose, we only gain.” A bit of a dichotomy from before, huh? 

All sides are true…

…and she is speaking from this place of the essential self. When we’ve stabilized the nervous system, slowed down the breath, and started to calm the fluctuations of the mind we begin again to have this awareness of who we are that’s born out of the simple cognition of truth and peace. 

From this state, we can’t really lose anything , everything we experience is just a gain…. even when we lose, it’s all an experience to learn from.

Kabir says, “we come into this world with closed fists, and we leave with palms wide open.” It’s much more enjoyable to open up the palms earlier and be open to all the miraculous opportunities that are possible as we navigate as the essential self.

With Love,

Andrew