Yoga and the Certainty of Spring
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My husband grew this Bird of Paradise at our home in Florida. Things blossom when it's their time to.
Meanwhile, my own "bird of paradise" was not quite ready to bloom back on May 16. Yoga has taught me never to force, so I didn't.
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Like you I am sure, I’ve been feeling delight as I witness all the beauty that is springing up around us now. Flowers in bloom, trees growing leaves, birds migrating back north. Simply put, Spring feels great. In my as-of-today 67 years and 29 days here on Earth, Spring has always returned and with it, the promise of renewal, the external blossoming of life itself. Spring engenders feelings of certainty within me, a confidence that things are on the up and up.
In this past month of teaching yoga, I returned to my sequence leading to the peak yoga posture “bird of paradise”. It is a challenging yoga posture for sure, and one that I used to be able to do quite easily in my younger years. (For a tutorial on how to do “bird of paradise”, watch this video by Clara Roberts-Oss who was a fellow trainee in my yoga teacher training 23 years ago.) But I do not despair that my current “bird of paradise” is not what quite what it used to be, for if yoga has taught me anything of importance it is that everything has its season. It actually feels rather good really to be experiencing what is spring season for the whole northern hemisphere during what is likely the fall season of my own life. These words by the Persian poet, Rumi, bring me comfort:
Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world. The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same. Every wonderful sight will vanish; every sweet word will fade, But do not be disheartened, The source they come from is eternal, growing, Branching out, giving new life and new joy. Why do you weep? The source is within you. And this whole world is springing up from it.
Yoga reminds us that we are forever tethered to an eternal source. It is easy to forget this at times as we get all caught up in the externalities of life. But yoga is always there to remind us. It is our inherent desire to create beauty that keeps that energy flowing from the source within us in an outward direction outside of ourselves. It is our individual creative spark connected to this source that adds beauty to the world. That beauty will fade, for sure, with the passing of each season. But no matter what things look like on the outside, we can always be assured that it is connected to something eternal within us. We may not be able to see it, but for certain, we can feel it.
This poem by Hongzhi Zhengjue, Chinese Zen Master, also brings me comfort:
People of the Way journey through the world responding to conditions, carefree and without restraint. Like clouds finally raining, like moonlight following the current, like orchids growing in shade, like spring arising in everything, they act without mind, they respond with certainty.
My take on “People of the Way” is someone who just flows with life rather than against it. Someone who meets life as it is, not as they wish it to be. Someone who responds in right-minded kinds of ways rather than knee-jerk reaction ways that may lead to worse outcomes. I’d like to think that my 30+ years of practicing yoga has brought me closer to being a “person of the Way.”
Hongzhi’s poem reminds me that like all of nature responding to these current spring conditions daily, I need to let things arise in their own and proper time. His words remind me to trust that things will arise in their own and proper time. They guide me to be aided by a mind unencumbered by attachments to ideas of how things should be. And his wise words advise me to let my own “bird of paradise” bloom when it’s ready to. And if it doesn’t bloom again in my remaining years on this Earth, I can be OK with that.
I know that living with uncertainty can be uncomfortable. But yoga and meditation have also taught me that living with uncertainty can be exhilarating and thrilling too.
We don’t know what will bloom this Spring, but one thing we can be certain of – whatever does will be exhilarating and thrilling.
And like Spring, when we let things blossom in their own time, we can trust that we will always be responding with certainty.
May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May your “bird of paradise” bloom when it’s ready to, …
And may whatever manifests from the Source through you and then outward into the world, may these blossoms benefit folks closest to you and from there spread out to help All Beings Everywhere.
with Aloha and Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun
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Images from this past month that reminded me of the Certainty of Spring.
Along the High Line.
Caught in action in Valley Stream, Long Island.
My husband and I were delighted by the sweet smell of honey suckle along our walk on the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk. We were told that Joe and Jill Biden have their beach home around 4 miles north of this spot.
We were mesmerized by the wild life at dusk we discovered across the street from our new home in Lewes, DE.
My in-apartment garden is growing!
Photo Credits:
Photos of Bird of Paradise and deer shot by Ed Gonzalez.
Photo of me attempting seated bird of paradise shot by Kate Weiman.
Photos of flowers and rabbit shot by me.