April28
How to stay steady when life gets stormy
Being human is messy and complicated. There's no avoiding it.
Just recently, I was on my way out the door to teach yoga at Kripalu. I was so happy that Kai had sweetly fallen asleep for his afternoon nap, and excited for my Friday evening out of the house.
Between being at home a lot, caring for my son, and working from home, even a trip to the grocery store feels like a mini vacation.
As I stepped into my rain boots, my phone chimed with a new text message.
My heart sank as I read it.
“Say a prayer for Aura. Robbie’s rushing her to the ER.” My mom went on to say that my eight-month-old niece was experiencing severe stomach issues, and her doctor had advised that she be seen immediately.
In a split second, I went from feeling excited and joyful to feeling terrified and helpless.
I took a few deep breaths, and watched what was arising within me.
I observed the fear, dread, tightness in my stomach and shoulders, helplessness, vulnerability, and concern for my niece, brother, and sister-in-law. I watched my need to show up strongly for the students I was about to lead in yoga practice, the doubts that I'd be able to do so, the urge to get on the highway and drive straight to Pennsylvania to support my family, my angst around the total uncertainty and the chaos and conflict that swirled within me.
I stayed present with the conflicting thoughts and feelings, without trying to stop or change them.
I simply made space for them, while part of me remained separate from them. These were the facts: Aura was sick and going to the hospital, and I needed to get to Kripalu to teach yoga. I would know more after my class and, until then, I would have to live the uncertainty.
I arrived at Kripalu, and focused on teaching my class. When worries surfaced, I acknowledged them and allowed them to stay with me for as long as they needed. I sent some healing thoughts to my family, breathed deeply, and directed my awareness back to the moment: the students before me, the sensations of my own body and breath, and my connection with the ground beneath me.
As soon as class was over, I checked my phone for updates.
Aura was okay. The doctors had ruled out any serious concerns. I both experienced and watched a huge wave of relief wash over me.
Like the weather, life can go from blue skies to torrential downpour in a second, and you can't control it.
We've all had those moments, when life is flowing along smoothly and we’re suddenly blindsided by trauma or tragedy. Thankfully, the situation with Aura turned out to be a blip on the radar, but it still stirred up tremendous turmoil and uncertainty for me.
Yoga teaches that, although you can’t control your inner weather, you can choose how to be with it.
I knew, when I got that text message from my mom, that I had to use the tool that has become my savior in times like this, one that’s central to the teachings of both Kripalu Yoga and Pranakriya Yoga. We call it “the Witness.”
The Witness is the part of yourself that simply observes your inner experience as it unfolds—without judging it, reacting to it, or needing to change it.
It’s a part of you that’s fully present, yet removed just enough to watch calmly. The witness observes thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, inner dialogue—everything and anything that arises within you.
My Witness allowed me to contain the enormity of my thoughts and feelings, without being consumed by them.
It allowed me to stay grounded and connected to the facts of the moment. Without the Witness, my mind would have gotten attached to stories of what might happen, or the strong emotions might have taken over and compromised my ability to function as I needed to right then.
Shutting down or going numb might protect us from the pain of the moment, but it cuts us off from parts of ourselves that are real and true and need to be integrated in order for us to be whole.
The more you witness, the better you become at witnessing.
The Witness is a muscle that strengthens as you use it. Every time you watch without judging, you strengthen your ability to be present with strong emotions and intense experiences.
This leads to more calmness, freedom, and peace.
When you’re witnessing, you no longer become your feelings, so your feelings no longer own you. You’re free from their grasp. Even in the midst of feeling an emotion, you're able to see that this emotion will pass. Sadness, anger, joy, and fear move through you, but they are not the essence of you.
As my teacher, Yoganand, puts it, your witness, or your true self, is like the sky. The weather changes from moment to moment, but the sky never changes.
The more you practice the Witness, the more you can identify with the sky rather than the weather, and the more calmness and clarity you feel.
I can't say enough about how powerful this tool is, and how profoundly it has helped me to heal, grow, forgive, enliven, and live a more full and peaceful life. And it is accessible to all of us.
I would love to hear your thoughts!
I believe we grow best with the support of community, so please take a moment to share a comment below.
Is the Witness new to you or something you already work with in your life?
Thank you so much for reading. I'm honored to explore with you!
With love and gratitude,
Just recently, I was on my way out the door to teach yoga at Kripalu. I was so happy that Kai had sweetly fallen asleep for his afternoon nap, and excited for my Friday evening out of the house.
Between being at home a lot, caring for my son, and working from home, even a trip to the grocery store feels like a mini vacation.
As I stepped into my rain boots, my phone chimed with a new text message.
My heart sank as I read it.
“Say a prayer for Aura. Robbie’s rushing her to the ER.” My mom went on to say that my eight-month-old niece was experiencing severe stomach issues, and her doctor had advised that she be seen immediately.
In a split second, I went from feeling excited and joyful to feeling terrified and helpless.
I took a few deep breaths, and watched what was arising within me.
I observed the fear, dread, tightness in my stomach and shoulders, helplessness, vulnerability, and concern for my niece, brother, and sister-in-law. I watched my need to show up strongly for the students I was about to lead in yoga practice, the doubts that I'd be able to do so, the urge to get on the highway and drive straight to Pennsylvania to support my family, my angst around the total uncertainty and the chaos and conflict that swirled within me.
I stayed present with the conflicting thoughts and feelings, without trying to stop or change them.
I simply made space for them, while part of me remained separate from them. These were the facts: Aura was sick and going to the hospital, and I needed to get to Kripalu to teach yoga. I would know more after my class and, until then, I would have to live the uncertainty.
I arrived at Kripalu, and focused on teaching my class. When worries surfaced, I acknowledged them and allowed them to stay with me for as long as they needed. I sent some healing thoughts to my family, breathed deeply, and directed my awareness back to the moment: the students before me, the sensations of my own body and breath, and my connection with the ground beneath me.
As soon as class was over, I checked my phone for updates.
Aura was okay. The doctors had ruled out any serious concerns. I both experienced and watched a huge wave of relief wash over me.
Like the weather, life can go from blue skies to torrential downpour in a second, and you can't control it.
We've all had those moments, when life is flowing along smoothly and we’re suddenly blindsided by trauma or tragedy. Thankfully, the situation with Aura turned out to be a blip on the radar, but it still stirred up tremendous turmoil and uncertainty for me.
Yoga teaches that, although you can’t control your inner weather, you can choose how to be with it.
I knew, when I got that text message from my mom, that I had to use the tool that has become my savior in times like this, one that’s central to the teachings of both Kripalu Yoga and Pranakriya Yoga. We call it “the Witness.”
The Witness is the part of yourself that simply observes your inner experience as it unfolds—without judging it, reacting to it, or needing to change it.
It’s a part of you that’s fully present, yet removed just enough to watch calmly. The witness observes thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, inner dialogue—everything and anything that arises within you.
My Witness allowed me to contain the enormity of my thoughts and feelings, without being consumed by them.
It allowed me to stay grounded and connected to the facts of the moment. Without the Witness, my mind would have gotten attached to stories of what might happen, or the strong emotions might have taken over and compromised my ability to function as I needed to right then.
Shutting down or going numb might protect us from the pain of the moment, but it cuts us off from parts of ourselves that are real and true and need to be integrated in order for us to be whole.
The more you witness, the better you become at witnessing.
The Witness is a muscle that strengthens as you use it. Every time you watch without judging, you strengthen your ability to be present with strong emotions and intense experiences.
This leads to more calmness, freedom, and peace.
When you’re witnessing, you no longer become your feelings, so your feelings no longer own you. You’re free from their grasp. Even in the midst of feeling an emotion, you're able to see that this emotion will pass. Sadness, anger, joy, and fear move through you, but they are not the essence of you.
As my teacher, Yoganand, puts it, your witness, or your true self, is like the sky. The weather changes from moment to moment, but the sky never changes.
The more you practice the Witness, the more you can identify with the sky rather than the weather, and the more calmness and clarity you feel.
I can't say enough about how powerful this tool is, and how profoundly it has helped me to heal, grow, forgive, enliven, and live a more full and peaceful life. And it is accessible to all of us.
I would love to hear your thoughts!
I believe we grow best with the support of community, so please take a moment to share a comment below.
Is the Witness new to you or something you already work with in your life?
Thank you so much for reading. I'm honored to explore with you!
With love and gratitude,
Comments (121)
Agreed, but this scientifically-challenged idiavdnuil doesn’t realise that because the emissivity of the Earth is always <<1 [convection and radiation are coupled], the heat transfer part of the GCMs has no analytical solution and the operational emissivity at GHG band-specific wavelengths has to be very low because of 'Prevost Exchange' with thermal IR from the atmosphere at nearly the same temperature.In other word the Aarhenius 'GHG blanket' concept is absurdly wrong and there is no 'back radiation', a mistake from meteorology.. So, there can be no CO2-AGW because that emission band is switched off. Also the GHE is the temperature rise needed to get the same heat transfer from a reduced spectrum ['atmospheric window' plus sidebands which aren't in IR 'self-absorption'] plus convection. This is obvious to any professional engineer or experienced physicist: the IPCC people are very stupid.A rider is that the GHE is fixed by the first ~900 ppmV water vapour, when the operational absorptivity of water vapour levels off. The big challenge we face is global cooling: the jet streams are moving nearer the Equator for a good reason. Because of this, extreme weather events will increase but it is nothing to do with CO2 which is benign.
On the contrary. I think non cailmte scientists, like myself, should try to understand the facts behind one of the most pressing issues for humanity today.Where we lack expertise, trusting the views of experts seems sensible. Summarising those views is what the IPCC is for.Where we do have the necessary expertise, (which I do in some aspects), digging into the background, doing the maths, and reaching a deeper understanding is a great to be able to achieve. Whenever I’ve attempted this, it’s always been very clear that the scientific consensus viewpoint is sound.If, however, that process leads us to the conclusion that we are right and the experts are wrong, it would be wise to act with humility in the knowledge that we are, most likely, mistaken. Listening to contrary opinions would be sensible, and it would be best of all to publish our analysis in the literature to allow the scientific community to respond us, and for us to learn from their appraisal of our work. Whereas what you see here, and I absolutely stand by my words, are antiscientific wingnuts determined to ignore the evidence and to continue repeating obvious nonsense, already debunked times beyond listing.Just to give two very obvious recent examples, the post by Dave Springer above and the Pope post I responded to below, but hundreds more will be shortly posted.
Rob, Arctic ice melt is not evidence of the globe wanrimg. In fact according to our satellites which were specifically designed to measure global average temperature in the lower troposphere the earth has been cooling at an accelerating pace beginning 15 years ago.Arctic ice melt is evidence of ice melting in a tiny fraction of the earth’s surface. The cause could be many things. Winds play a large role in summer ice extents. Slower mixing of cold deep water with warm surface water could cause it. Albedo-lowering black carbon (soot) deposition could cause it. Most of the energy that reaches the earth falls much closer to the equator. Arctic sea ice is a little bitch subject to the whims of winds and ocean currents. This is why Antarctic ice is not in decline wind can’t push it around to make it clump up or spread out, ocean currents can’t get underneath it to melt it from below.You will hear progressively more shrill talk about Arctic sea ice because that’s the last thing the global warmists have left to cling to because they’ve been betrayed by the satellite network which unequivocally shows global average temperature in lower troposphere is falling at an accelerating pace beginning over a decade ago even while atmospheric CO2 increased another 8%. The warmists are increasingly looking like fools with each passing year of declining global average temperature. The core fanatics will become increasingly bitter, angry, shrill, and in denial even while the thoughtful among them quietly distance themselves.Or maybe not. Maybe the next decade will see global average temperature start rising with a vengeance. Only time will tell.
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