My shadow beat me around the bend even though I’m walking as fast as I can. The sun is getting ready to retire, not too much higher than the mountain, maybe three inches if I had the skill to paint the scene. It’s that low sun that gives my shadow the advantage. Luckily, as the road straightens, my shadow and I are holding hands again and it feels more comfortable. No sense in getting ahead of myself.
We stop in our tracks when we see the once familiar rolling hillside in the distance, scraped clean, cleared of mature, yet burnt grapevines, and covered in fresh, golden straw to minimize the erosion that could happen when it rains. Slightly stunned, we attempt to capture the intense golden color with a photograph, but the sun lowers too quickly behind us, and both the photograph and my shadow disappear. In addition to the unusually wide and high grapevine piles, I notice numerous mounds of harvested rock coveted for making picturesque fence-lines in the area. I imagine how long it took to clear the land and create the thin, rolling blanket of straw that looked as if it snowed yellow. The surrounding trees’ blackened bark preserve the memory of how fire devastated the area, yet the newly tended acreage reminds me how both the land and its humans are resilient.
I’m interested in resiliency, the inner strength and flexibility that is our birthright. However, it seems as life experiences accumulate, our ability to overcome and to bounce back starts to decline. Past experiences can create fear and doubt, and like an old-fashioned record, we can only hear what’s been recorded. Sometimes we need tools to help us rebound. Yoga teaches us to trust our ability to be there for whatever comes our way. In particular, meditation strengthens our capacity to be with what is difficult. We learn to acknowledge and accept everything, the easy and the hard. Tuere Sala, a meditation teacher and a retired Prosecution Attorney, describes this as “our ability to be with the push and pull of pleasantness and unpleasantness.” She goes on to say, “It all starts with learning to resist the urge to habitually pull away from what seems unpleasant and hold onto what is pleasant. Mindfulness helps us build trust in knowing the appropriate response rather than simply following the push of reactivity.”
During times like these when there is no shortage of unpleasantness, it is helpful to seek ways to wade through the mud in search of some clear water. Yoga teaches us to be able to trust our ability to be resilient. Ancient teachings provide a framework for finding stillness in a time churning with uncertainty. Yoga helps us find an ease of mind.