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The Point of Pointlessness

July 23, 2015 by Lucy 6 Comments

About five years ago, during a particularly unsettled time in my life, I was gifted with a little garden to take care of for a year. 

It wasn’t an intentional gift, but as no one else did, I took it on.  One day, as Spring was just unfurling, I wandered out, filled a pot with soil and planted beans.  And to my genuine surprise – they grew!

The grass was ragged and uneven; I’d set out to simply neaten it up…a few hours later I found I had mowed, raked, edged, reseeded.  Over the Spring I planted and the Summer brought vegetables I had tended and flowers bloomed.  In the midst of uncertainty, hands full of dirt and soil grounded me; simplicity, fresh air and focus soothed an anxious mind.

The work, of course, was never complete.

Always weeding to be done; seedlings to plant out; watering, feeding, mowing, picking, composting…

The work was never done.  And it wasn’t even mine to keep. I could’ve let it go to seed, no one expected it to be cared for.  At the end of the year, the owners would return and I would give it all back.

But it didn’t matter.  What mattered was that season. That day. The opportunity to play and watch it grow. That was the joy.

Joy of tending.  Joy in being a part of the cycle, the turn of the seasons and forces so much bigger than myself.  Realising that I could never be in control of this, I didn’t try. I was happy just to partake.  Enjoying not really knowing what I was doing and quietly finding the confidence to have a go.

I got the bug, and now with my own garden to play with, I can lose hours messing about with fingernails full of dirt, still not really knowing what I’m doing.  Committing to work that will never be done. Isn’t it all a bit….pointless?

Yes, there are times it is overwhelming.

And times where there is no time at all.

But I know it is there, and continuing with or without me.  Things will unfold, the garden will grow (not caring how neat it’s lawn edge is), unsettled times will pass. I will get stuck back in.

And so it is with our yoga – oh yoga, you perfect, beautiful analogy! – work without end.

No final destination; no medals on offer.  We can return to it time and time again; it is never done.

At each return there is potential for deeper understanding. Quietly finding confidence to have a go. And yes, joy in the work.

And so we return to the mat, to our practice, just as I return to my garden; learning the point of pointlessness.  Embracing the work to be done….and trusting in the process.  Nature does not hurry, and yet everything gets done.  Doing the work simply because it brings us joy. 

Do your work and then step back

The only path to serenity

– Lao Tzu

Wishing you joyfully pointless times this Summer, tending what you love and loving what you tend xx

Filed Under: Mindfulness & Meditation Tagged With: finding joy, gardening, joy, Lao Tzu, little things, love, mindfulness, nature, pointlessness, simplicity, yoga

The Art of Letting Go

May 1, 2014 by Lucy 5 Comments

“Fill your bowl to the brim, and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife, and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security, and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work then step back. The only path to serenity.”
– Lao Tzu

Last Saturday I taught a workshop on Optimising Energy with the lovely & tremendously knowledgable Tracy Land.  It was a fab morning of energy enhancing yoga & nutrition (check out future workshops we have coming up)!  It struck me how much energy we expend on striving…striving to be something other than what we are; striving to hold on to things we have no power over; striving to attain things (material or otherwise), people, love… That constant ‘if only’ mantra so many of us carry with us – “if only I was…., if only I could…, if only I had…”

…If only, if only, if only…

No wonder we’re exhausted!

Yoga shows me, time and time again, to step back – that the practice – this practice is enough; to trust in it; to trust in my students and to trust in myself, that each of us is finding (and living) our own path to our own truth.

This isn’t an abmonishment of ambition or motivation at all. Nor an excuse to be lazy! But a call to bring ourselves fully to each task, each challenge, each moment, and then allow things to be.  So, on the mat (for example) we fully extend our arms to the degree we can extend our arms; we engage our core as much as we can engage our core; we bring the mind to experiencing the moment as much as is possible….whatever the pose might be asking of us on the mat, or whatever life may be throwing at us off of the mat. Doing what we can, committing fully and truthfully (whatever that looks like for each of us)  and then letting go. Allowing whatever comes next to unfold.

This is what I mean when I say ‘let the postures do the work’ – so often there is no need to strive; striving is what interupts the flow….it makes us tight and resistant. Take the pose, the practice, commit fully and let go.

Do your work and then step back.

from my heart to yours,

xoxo lucyogini

 

Filed Under: Mindfulness & Meditation, Well being Tagged With: about yoga, better health, commitment, energy, happiness, health, home practice, Lao Tzu, letting go, meditation, mindfulness, quote, Tao, truth, yoga, yoga benefits, yoga practice

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