#21: Release

Nov 01, 2023

“Yoga is a dance between control and surrender – between pushing and letting go – and when to push and when to let go becomes part of the creative process, part of the open-ended exploration of your being.”

~ Joel Kramer

Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

This month, I’ve been thinking about the word: release and reflecting on the act of letting go.

And, I’ve got to be honest, it’s not been easy.

Why?

Well, it would take living in a cave to escape knowledge of current events, which include (but are not limited to) the moral and humanitarian crisis in the Middle East and the impending issue of our warming planet.

Sometimes, in order to function, I have to put my concerns about such things to one side.

I’m not pretending these problems don’t exist.

It’s not even that I am looking the other way.

It’s just compartmentalization, I guess. Or saving it all for another day, so to speak.

It’s about accepting what can be done - what I can do - and, more importantly, acknowledging my limitations and attempting to live with them. And to make peace with it.

To make peace with myself.

There are days when I congratulate myself for this ability to ‘file it all away’ because it means I made it through another day without entirely crumbling.

But, there are other days, many of them, when I feel like I’ve let myself (and the whole of humanity) down.

After all, what could be more important than the lives of children, now, and the lives of our children’s children, in the future? What else is there? What is the point of it all, if it’s not this?

This is no-joke terrain. What we are witnessing, right now, is what will be in the history books of the future. Of that I am sure. And I have to ask myself: What side of history am I choosing to be on?

It simply isn’t valid to say I haven’t noticed and it would be wrong of me to pretend that I don’t care. That it didn’t concern me or apply to me and my life.

We know everything is connected.

Such things would be a denial, and denial, by any amount, is unhealthy.

As somebody who aspires to work with truth: the truth around me and the truth within me, I can no longer afford to stuff down my feelings, and I know that my path is very much about this balance of control and surrender.

As it is for each and every one of us.

Saying that, I acknowledge that I am just an average person with things to do in order to take care of my family, and I know full well that if I don’t keep my head on straight, I run the very real risk of feeling too weighed down by it all. So much so that it will overwhelm me.

Making me powerless.

And that is obviously the last thing that anybody wants to feel.

It would be unwanted, and, also, untrue.

brown wooden blocks on white surface — Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

When the TRUTH is that we are powerful. All of us. Even little old me.

The truth is, it is only fear that immobilizes us, and it is fear that temporarily robs us of our power.

Yoga helps me to process my fear.

I often reflect on what yoga suggests as a way to navigate such challenging times, and I wonder again and again, seeking for a way through, about how my practice can support me, as well as others (because what is the point of a yoga practice if it isn’t in service to others?)

And, how can yoga help us to remember our power?

One of the first things that springs to my mind is how physically yoga enables me to clear away the manifestations of stress in my body.

It literally allows me to release the negative effects of stress and trauma. It is something I can actually feel in my physicality. That and the release of prana, of energy, circulating through me.

Mentally, the space that my practice creates allows for moments of peace.

And peace requires no further explanation. Especially not at times like this.

Spiritually, I’d say it helps me to take a step back and to think of any wider lessons that can potentially be learned from such situations, and this means I am free to ponder on the possibilities of even bigger pictures. Zooming out from me and out passed any of the dramas occurring on earth. Imagining the vast expanse of the universe. Beyond the concept of time and the mere dot on a line in which these years of humanity may one day represent.

To help with this, I suggest absorbing yourself in the following video by Beautiful Chorus.

I believe only in love.
Everything else on earth lacks meaning.
Even if this world is levelled to the ground.
Even if the seas dry up and the mountains wear down.
Love will live forever in the infinite universe.

Space.

Room to breathe.

Room in the mind.

Room in the heart.

A release.

Looking to the natural world, we see the layers of leaves scattered on the ground and we understand the lessons of ‘letting go’ - we know them well - but, like I’ve already said: letting go, or releasing, isn’t always as easy to do as it is to say.

The other week, I met with my regular writers group and I started a piece of work around this idea. About the lessons of autumn. But, when it came to sharing, I couldn’t. Instead, I cried, and the tears wouldn’t stop. I was able to smile through it and to own my tears as they clearly needed to flow, but I was taken aback by both my feelings and just how much I must have needed a good cry.

That is itself a release.

So, if you need a cry, please, go ahead and have one.

There can be a lot of pressure these days in wellness circles and yoga spheres to ‘let go’. To release.

When, in truth, what we really want to do is hold on.

To not let-go.

To cling on for dear life to the way we think things are supposed to be.

This is known as attachment, and the ‘goal’, or the aim - if that is the correct term - is to work towards being non-attached.

The late yoga teacher Michael Stone shared a wonderful explanation of attachment (please see below) and how it relates to our yoga practice in these modern times, and why and how non-attachment is integral to effective action and to our sense of power.

When to hold on. When to release.

Inspired by Michael Stone, using the yogic lessons on non-attachment and applying it towards taking positive action, there are a couple of the things that I have done recently:

A talented illustrator friend and I are attempting to channel our eco-anxiety into something positive by starting a local PFF group.
I am choosing to educate myself, reading around the topic of Israel and Palestine, as suggested by Gabor Mate.

I truly believe that the work we do on ourselves, through all sorts of practices, but especially yoga, has never been more important.

As is knowing and understanding that this ‘dance’ between control and surrender is the stuff of being human.

I hope reflecting on these things this month allows you to find a sense of peace.

So, on that note, I will leave you with the words of Lao-Tzu, but please also find your journal pages and playlist below.

And please feel free to reach out to me with your questions and queries.

I am here.

With kindness,

Louisa

“If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.”