In Out of the Way Places

As I wake up, it feels like Groundhog day, my brain searches the thin skin of awareness and sinks again - it wasn’t a dream, we’re in lockdown for the third time ‘same old same old’ not very lyrical.
My mind knows that I can focus on gratitude and appreciation for my own situation, and often my mood shifts and getting out of bed is a little easier. It’s one thing knowing with my mind and another feeing the truth of it…So I go in search of Inspiration…
I pick a book at random from my infinitely inspiring bookshelf and open the page – and here it is…
“In out-of-the-way places of the heart
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge”
These first few lines of John O’Donohue’s poem about New Beginnings stops me in my tracks, slaps inspiration around my head like a wet fish!
And of course I get straight onto my yoga mat and move my body, and peek into the out of the way places of the heart…and other caves of my inner world. I linger longer and wait for what emerges from all the un-read books that line the bookshelves within, all the wisdom and nonsense stored inside waiting to be opened. Right here – BOOM! So much unread, unexplored, gems of wisdom waiting to be discovered. Random or meant to be received.
So as a yoga teacher, yoga therapist and yoga therapy trainer, I reach for my journal to make sense of this experience, to stand back and join the dots.
And I continue to read the poem, picking out some words…
“Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning”
So here it is RIGHT HERE – the feeling of my embodied mindfulness practice as I focus on the internal landscape of my own body – trust – yes, open – yes, unfurl – yes, grace – hmm not sure! Beginning, yes – not sure what yet but something is brewing up through layers that lead from my soul to the surface.
“And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
Awaken your spirit to adventure.
“Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.”
Morning practice complete, I think I’ll be visiting the out of the way places again very soon.
And for now, I feel awakened and ready for the newness of the day and coffee.
And on my daily walk, I’m reminded of the newness as I turn each corner. As I remain open through my senses, I am aware of the out of the way places that emerge each day as I walk in different weather and a different mood, at a different pace. Each moment to be lived as a new beginning, never lived before and never the same again. Same old same old gone – “And my soul senses the world that awaits me” and I breathe it in with a spring in my step. I am ready for the day, ready for my yoga therapy clients and I trust the process for them too.
Judy Hirsh Sampath offers 1-2-1 yoga therapy, mentoring and supervision to toga teachers and yoga therapists judy@yogaunited.com
FREE yoga therapy taster HERE https://www.yogaunited.com/education
John Donohue quotes are “in italics” from his book 'To Bless the Space Between Us’