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)
Except we are not talking about arngmeuts here.We are talking about trash talking which is what Micheal does.Lets be clear. The trash talking is a tactic. Its been clearly laid out elsewhere as a tactic. My argument is pretty simple. When a skeptic trash talks its pretty clear he doesnt care about reasoning together. he doesnt want to reason together. he doesnt want to open his mind to change.I would like to change his mind. I assume Micheal cares about the planet as well and would like to change minds.The fact that he engages in trash talk, tells me one of these is true.1. He thinks that his agenda will win regardless and changing minds is not important.2. He really doesnt care about the planet.3. he cant find anything else constructive to do, so he joins in the trash talking.Now, it wouldnt be that bad if he only trash talked in half of his comments. I could understand someone who spent some of his time trying to talk rationally to people who dont want to be convinced and some of his time trash talking. You know a human being. Hell, the ratio of lurkers to commenters is usually big. On the chance that his example of speaking rationally on occasion MIGHT convince a lurker you would think he would try it. But no. Its full bore trash talking. You would think that he might think about those who read but never comment. Of course since i use my name, I can say that I have met people in real life who read comments and never comment themselves. Their perception of the fights they witness is something folks might consider. I say that knowing full well That I am no angel nor do I expect Micheal to be one. However, he might consider trying a few new things.
Michael,I think it is obvious that he was being saracstic about the two year period being more alarming. As a fairly neutral party (a luke-warmer) and as a scientist myself, I get annoyed by extremists from both sides. It is not correct to use a two year period. He is also using the satellite record which can show some cooling but the surface record is more flat, indicating no cooling or warming. The IPCC and other warmist scientists freely admit that there has been a stretch of 10-15 years with less warming than they have predicted. This is the reason for a whole slew of peer reviewed papers plus a web paper by Tamino (Grant Foster). Hansen a few years ago decided there was a 50 year lag in temp. due to oceans (nice round number with no error bar), Santer and others decided you needed 13, then 17 or is it 21 years with no warming before you have to start thinking about questioning your assumptions, Foster showed that if you removed things that could have cooled the climate that it looks like it would have warmed, etc. So they admit (as any comparison with Hansen’s or IPCC charts will show) that it has warmed less than they thought. So showing that with RSS or Hadcrut data for 14-15 years is not cherry-picking. You can start at a different year than 1998 and it is still pretty flat. This is no worse than acting like a few warm months in 2/3 of one country (that in other cases we keep getting reminded is only 4% of the worlds area) is clear proof of global warming and it is the worst in 60 years and deliberately leaving out the period 80 years ago in the 30 s that was worse.Why is that not cherry-picking?Grow up and learn to think for yourself.
Interesting website that links to Mark Raven’s name. It apraeps that our cool-dude-wannabe, dork-with-an-attitude Mark is involved with a collective of some sort that maintains Suprise! Suprise! one of those ubiquitous, good-little-greenshirt, mom-is-so-proud-of-her-little-blogger-snookums, reliable-mouth-piece blogs. And Mark’s patheic, Robert-knock-off attempts at blogospheric punditry again, Surprise! Surprise! are everything a reader could possibly want in terms of doofus, party-line-hack, tedious-to-the-max enviro-pieties of the eco-creep, hipster-geek, read-between-the-lines-and-you-just-know-this-Mark-weirdo-and-his-wanker-reject-pals-are-like-complete-losers-and-all, probably-all-just-big-talk-militancy-but-maybe-not variety. Typical hive-bozo crapola, in other words. And, of course, since Mark’s blog is in the lefty tradition, it takes a compulsive pleasure in head-shot homicide. That is, at the top of Mark’s blog is a banner that shows a figure with a blood-stained club, smashing another’s (pinata) head as pieces of skull fly and blood splatters. You know, sort of a 21st century, low-carbon version of the ol’ Bolshevik, bullet to the back of the head routine. And, if things work out for our Philosopher-King/Cull-Master aspirants, it will be neo-empowered, momma’s-boy, good-comrade lumpen-nerds, like Mark, who will be collecting our carbon tax and enforcing other adjustments required by our newly-arrived brave-new-low-carbon-world (our betters will be exempt from such rigors, of course). And a little dash of activated science may be just all it takes for our betters to finally pull-off their eager-beaver, make-a-buck/make-a-gulag CAGW hustle. Who knows?Something to think about. P. S. I see that our fearless, carbon-demon slayer, Lubchenko, did not include leadership from the front and leadership by personal example in her appeal for leadership by the attendees at that lefty, pep-rally she addressed. I mean, like, that’s all anyone needs to know about Lubchenko and her merry crew and their real ambitions. I mean, you know, elitist scare-mongering, carbon-piggie hypocrites, like Lubchenko, will never give up their carbon-swill, snout-sucking pay-off troughs or their CO2-spew, party-confabs (which could easily be conducted via low-carbon video-conferencing except that video-conferencing would deprive our eco-worthies of their all-nighter, boozy, buddy-buddy, grab-ass, after-hours blow-outs on the taxpayer dime). Rather, the greenshirt deal is how to rip-off and reduce us little guys to doltish helotry, while preserving their own high-carbon sinecures, party-time-perks, and gravy-train specials. But, I’m pleased to observe, that selling that deal to us proto-peons, seems to be proving a challenge for our heroic betters, even with all that fired-up, flim-flam, activated science they are now frantically waving in our faces. And that’s a good thing.
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