Goodbye 2022
Goodbye 2022
A new year beckons once again.
New beginnings are not about letting go of every harsh lesson we carry with us from the past, but more about adapting those lessons to fit the circumstances that we are currently living with.
Winter is a rite of passage.
Many mythical tales tell of winter and its bleak landscape that dares us to enter into the darkness and see what is hidden within. To find what lies beneath the surface and welcome it into our lives.
The bleak mid-winter is a time of pure potential. A time to reflect and discover the creative force that lies within. In darkness we become more imaginative and visionary. We confront the paradoxes and absurdities of life .Without the visual world of light, we find inner vision, but before it is revealed to us, we must first confront our demons. To see clearly our phobias and fears, hidden anger and frustration , all the bits of us that we like to keep hidden , for when we recognise them and understand that they are ours and no one else’s and that we alone must face them, we begin to access that visionary light that lies hidden within.
Whilst some of us will experience a real epiphany, most of us will be offered a glimpse at something almost insignificant, but we should not dismiss it as anything less, for every new beginning comes from a humble origin.
A new beginning is often not the dramatic transformation that we imagine it to be, more likely it is that having confronted our demons, we choose to change one small thing. From this small change, the potential for dramatic change arises, but being human requires us to adapt gradually so that we are not destroyed by this powerful force.
For my fifth Christmas I was given a book of fairy tales with illustrations by the wonderful artist Edmund Du Lac. I remember a lesson in patience as I asked all the busy adults present to read it to me. I probably went through all the frustrations of children of my generation who were seen and not heard and told to wait. So at some point on the day I opened the book and pretended to read it myself and discovered the illustrations that told a story without words, that invited me into the world of myth and imagination where words were almost unnecessary.
I still love that world of myth today.
The stories grow with me and are constantly adapting to my changing perspectives as I grow older.
The layers of meaning are hidden to those who are not ready to see them. But the cleverest part is that they become so uniquely individual to the person who reads them. So that my version of the snow queen may well be very different from someone else’s.
In the ancient Yoga texts it is much the same.
We find layers of meaning that will only become apparent when our consciousness is open to them.
If Yoga is about transformation and growth then it can only benefit us in our practices to explore the deeper layers of meaning.
To maintain the physical body ensures we live to explore these deeper realms of our existence.
We recognise that we are more than the physical body.
We carry within us many layers which are increasingly subtle. Less tangible, they will never be revealed if we avoid the rites of passage that each winter brings.
I would like to wish you all a very happy New Year and wish for you to have the courage to enter into the frozen darkness of winter and discover the hidden gift that awaits you there.
More than that though, remember a mythical tale that once touched you and read it with new eyes.
To follow on from this theme we will explore the five koshas when our classes resume in January.
We have worked with them before, so let’s notice how hidden meanings and fresh ideas arise each time we return to them.
Enjoy your winter break.
OM
Published by liz on Wednesday, 28 December 2022,
last updated on Wednesday, 28 December 2022 at 1:13PM
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Yoga Times