How much is enough?

 

In Yoga poses we learn from our body just how much is enough.  Whether this is in downward facing dog, raised arms or warrior II, we communicate with our bodies about limits.  I love the art and meditation aspects of physical yoga.  I love to challenge my body.  I use tree pose to perfect my balance by envisioning I am on a ski bike balancing on one foot as I get off the chair lift.  This requires extreme concentration and breathing which will come in handy this winter when I embark on this new sport.  In Yogic thought I need to seek the perfect balance of what I am engaged in.  There are some things I take to excess.  For years I took food to excess and as a result I developed diabetes. Now I fast regularly and eat a diet high in raw foods.  I take alcohol to excess.  Practicing Brahmacharya will teach me to know when I have had enough.    

Why do I move past the place of enough into excess.  Yogic thought tells me  it is because I have connected certain emotional states with certain foods or activities.  I drink alcohol out of loneliness and boredom.  The emotional state was formed from past experiences when I get together with people and party, I am drinking alcohol.  So when I am home, I try to feel that same way.  Unfortunately, there is not enough alcohol in the world to combat loneliness.  I must retrain my thought.  I need to disassociate alcohol and aloneness.  I need to learn that it is OK to be alone and not be lonely.  I spend a lot of time alone so I should get plenty of practice.

Brahmacharya literally means  "walking with God" and invites me to consider the sacredness of all in my life.  My meditation practice teaches me to to be in the moment.  To appreciate the wonder and beauty of all creation.  A full moon, or bird making a nest in my patio décor.  To appreciate my friends. To listen and be in the moment for them.  To appreciate someone else's suffering as I visit in the hospital, even though I am carrying a heavy burden myself.  To bury my selfish pride and be there for others.  It also means I must seek God in my life and practice non-excess.  It was an incredible release to have an estate sale in my Oro Valley house.  A lifetime of stuff suddenly vanished and repurposed.  I don't miss any of it.  Someday, I expect I will do the same with my mountain home.  In a sermon by Chuck Swindoll he says "If you want to serve God, pack light".  I am reminded that I cannot serve God and all this stuff too. In my latest poem called Pit of Grief, I say:

Detach from things, people and places  
Join me in a land with new faces
Once you are prepared to leave all behind
I shall place My vision in your mind

This doesn't mean just to detach from things, it also means on my spiritual journey I will leave some wonderful friends behind.  I will move from my own home to a new place.  I will still keep the friends, but as hard as it is to leave them behind, for me to walk with God, I have to do this alone.  I cannot have a girlfriend or especially not a wife until I see what, when and where this calling is leading me.  During the next several years,  I am in God's field training.  God is using my grief, hardships, conflicts, and other trials to shape me into the servant He wants me to be.  It is the discipline of Meditation and Yoga that teaches me.  God gives me the messages either through meditation or via other people.  This is why this blog is entitled "Meditation and Yoga Saved My Life". 

To my friends, please be patient with me.  I am doing the best I can.

To my family, I will try to be available for you as long as I can.  

To both friends and family.  If at any point in your life you need me to be there for you, just say the word and I will make it happen.

Thank you for being part of my spiritual journey.


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