Winter is coming

At a yoga studio where I teach, YogaSole, there is a little sign on the wall that says “This is now.” It is the simplest and most direct reminder that what we have is this, right now, nothing more, but also and more importantly, nothing less.

If you have been following this blog, you’ll know that I’m having a bit of a complicated moment. Or let’s call it what it is: stressful. Just lots of stuff. I find myself struggling to stay in the moment, my mind always on that next thing and what could go wrong with it, or how I can mitigate the risk that it would.

It turns my usual passable multitasking into a farce. This morning, for example, I spotted a piece of clothing that had to be put away while I was in the process of dressing. I didn’t even notice that I had shifted my attention from dressing to folding, until I found myself opening the drawer to put the folded piece of clothing away, then looked down and realized I still had only one pant-leg on and had been walking through the room dragging the other behind. It was humorous, sure. But also an indication that my mind is not at peace. I had not been in the “this” that is now.

“This is now” is core to yoga. This is now is yoga. There is nothing else. I am that which I am now. This is that which it is now. And so even as I know that time will move me from one place to another, through October, through November, to the beautiful bright snow and cold, I also know that now is all I have, and that now is expansive, more than enough, and above all, real.