Inauguration Day

Today is a day we will not forget. Like other significant markers of history and delineations of era's; when the prefixes "pre" and "post" define timelines. Years from now we will recall where we were, what we were doing, where otherwise ordinary details are the set and setting of the extraordinary circumstance. 

What is so extraordinary about today? 

First the good news, the highest seat, so far, that a woman will take in U.S. leadership begins today. 

Second, regardless of political standpoint and whether or not you are in favor of the elected 46th president, we nearly lost our democracy. Democracy is who we are. Until we are able to discover and consciously create an even better form of political organization, I believe democracy is the best we have for where we realistically fall on the scale of collective conscious evolution. I would like to believe that we are ready for something greater, perhaps something more utopian. Yet, what has been revealed in recent years is that we as a country are severely traumatized. Our countries' most haunting shadows and demons no longer linger in the dark, they were brought to light in the last four years. Uneasy as it is, it is the only way to heal, transform and evolve in an integrated way that is not bypassing the issues that persist when not acknowledged and dealt with. 

Today, we begin to heal. 

It was brought to my attention that I might reconsider having class today as it is a block from the State Capitol building where there is plausible risk of violent protests of today's inauguration. As valid as it is, I instead have chosen to not miss this opportunity to practice being present, awake and nonreactive as possible on a historical and intensified day. And, as I love to say, to be in the eye of the storm. To some, choosing to sit in meditation or practice mindfulness (or other seemingly nonproductive or action oriented things), while there are real issues to deal with, might be considered bypass and an elite privilege. However true that may be, it is also true that there comes a time when attention shifts where it is needed most. And that time is different for each individual and each moment. Some are called to take action, to demonstrate, to speak, to celebrate. All rightful expressions. 

Right now, the moment for me calls to be still and objective. To hold conscious awareness within myself, and those who show up. There is immense power in the invisible energy of conscious awareness. The expansion of our unified field of consciousness is nondiscriminatory; it envelopes all and assists in the healing that is necessary as we move forward.

Expansion Contraction

 One of the most basic laws of the Universe is the law of polarity. The law of polarity says that "everything can be separated into two wholly opposite parts, and that each of those still contains the potentiality of the other." And that both are only different expressions of the same thing. That same thing being energy, the Divine, God, however you frame it it is source energy. And everything is made from source energy, particles of stars. The expression of this energy is boundless, and infinite. 

    

We cannot have day without night, left without right, expansion without contraction or an inhale without an exhale. There is no beginning or end of either, it is cyclical and continuous. We live in a world of duality, a world of positive and negatives, polarizing forces. Nature works this way. Even the way that trees grow. If not for polarizing energy and magnetics, how would the tree draw sap from its roots in spring, and pull nutrients from its limbs in fall?   

We see this in yoga, in the simple expression of a sun salutation. Extension (arms reach up), flexion (forward fold), extension (up dog), flexion (downward dog). In fact, it is this very vinyasa sequence, surya namaskar, that the ancient yogis aimed to connect with the natural rhythms and cycles of nature that they witnessed in their daily experience. The rhythm of day flowing to night, new moon to full moon, and on a much bigger scale the movement of the cosmos. One vinyasa cycle within the other, synchronized. The practice of surya namaskar synched with breath was (and still is) a way to become acutely aware of and tuned into the embodiment of the innate rhythm of the universe.  In this practice, there is potential to experience balance between the two opposites. In fact, this sequence that is practiced by millions today all over the world, is rooted - if not birthed from - tantra yoga. In its essence tantra yoga is the weaving of life; the weaving of our inner and outer experiences as one in the same;  and is conscious embodied experiences that connect us with the divine or God. This post is not an attempt to define tantra yoga, but tantra yoga exemplifies a way to navigate the ebbs and flow - the contractions and expansions - of life as an inevitable rhythm. 

Cosmically, and therefore collectively, we are in a huge contraction phase. We can see this in the alignment of the planets, specifically Saturn conjunct Pluto, and we don't have to look far to see it in nearly all aspects and systems of our life right now. It is no coincidence. Historically speaking the planetary alignments similar to the current chart coincided with major historical events, that as one cosmologist, Richard Tarnas in his book Cosmos and Pysche, says represents a contractive period. Where conflict and violence dominate not just in one locale, but across the globe. Saturn governs authority, solidity, security, tradition, status quo, order and system. Pluto governs the dark shadow and represents transformation. He also says in this book, that periods of contraction are almost always followed by alignments that have repeatedly been creative and innovative. Expansive! 

In this seemingly world of duality, we need to remember that one cannot be separate from the other. Polarizing forces coexist. Just like when day turns to night, the same sun continues to shine on Earth. From the sun's perspective, nothing has changed. So, ultimately reality is non-dual. Duality is a matter of perspective. 

Yoga teaches us that we are always under the influence of the gunas, or the qualities of nature, which includes the opposing, or complimentary, forces of tatvas (inertia) and rajas (action).  We will find ourselves operating from one of those forces at any given moment. The practice can direct us towards sattva, harmony between the extreme fluctuations of tattvas and rajas. This is the space in between. 

The space in between can be mirrored in the heart center, or heart chakra. In fact it is central to our lower and upper halves and energy centers, it is central to left (masculine) and right (feminine) sides of our body, it is central in how we connect emphatically with one another, it is central to compassion. It is central to our electromagnetic field that has immense capacity to expand and hold within it both ends of the spectrum and all the possibilities that have yet to be known. Our heart beat is like the undying steady pulse of the universe. 

Duality is familiar to us. Perhaps, we even find comfort in identifying with one side or other. But what if we identified less with what we know and explore the other side, or multiple sides, without identifying with it or denying it?  This is similar to what the yogis refer to as "riding the waves of the gunas".  

As we can see with the innate rhythms of nature and the planets, it is all cycles within cycles. One continuation from one extreme to the other. Synching to this rhythm is presence, is yoga, is freedom. Pure presence can be expansive for the mind as it is detached from either/or thinking. Pure presence is tapping into the field of potentiality. Here we are more open to receive new ideas, solutions or new ways of thinking and being that are beyond our current familiar dualistic experience.