Welcome to our meditation time.
I invite you to settle in to whatever spot you have chosen for yourself today.
Let the physical settling of your body be a way to arrive to today's practice.
Arriving physically to the space that you've chosen,
And then arriving energetically into this present moment.
As you are ready,
Close your eyes or soften your gaze,
Whichever feels right.
And then without trying to change it,
Begin to notice your breath.
Notice how it's coming in.
Notice how it's going out.
Notice what it's telling you,
What it's communicating about your day.
Our breath is often this beautiful reflection of the busyness of our time,
Of the things that are weighing on our hearts and on our minds.
It's also a reflection of the rest that we've given ourselves.
So just watch these next few breaths and see what is your breath communicating to you today.
In our practice,
We are on a journey through the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Sutra,
That beautiful Sanskrit word that gave us the English words suture and thread.
Today's practice comes from those ancient threads that weave together for us this practice of yoga.
But they also weave together the wisdom that we need to live in today's world.
In Yoga Sutra 124,
Patanjali introduces us to the idea of Purusha,
Purusha,
The pure consciousness within each of us.
Sutra 124 also gives us another Sanskrit word,
Ishvara,
Ishvara,
Divine presence.
And while we each may have a unique name that we've assigned to Ishvara,
Related to our language,
Our culture,
Our upbringing,
Names like God or Buddha or Allah or Ram,
The concept of Ishvara is universal.
Ishvara,
Divinity,
Something bigger than us,
Filling us with a light that we cannot quite describe with our limited vocabulary.
According to Patanjali's Sutras,
This practice that we engage in today together helps us to understand Purusha,
The pure consciousness within each of us,
And Ishvara,
This indescribable divine force of the universe,
So that our aim in life is really to stay connected to both.
But what tends to happen with you and with me is we end up covering our heart,
Our soul,
Our consciousness with layers from our past suffering,
With layers of our perceived failures and mistakes,
Layers from when others hurt or disappointed us,
Layers that distract us from that divine presence within and around,
That distract us from that pure consciousness of who we are.
And so today I invite us to settle in and let those layers begin to dissolve away,
Little by little,
Piece by piece,
Layer by layer.
Take a slow,
Deep breath in together here,
Filling ourselves up individually,
Collectively,
And then as you're ready,
Gently sigh it out.
Another slow breath in and a big,
Audible sigh out.
And allow that breath to let you settle into a rhythm that feels right.
And as you do,
I invite you to picture in your mind's eye a set of Russian nesting dolls.
See these beautiful painted dolls,
Decorated with vibrant colors and symbols.
And as most of us understand,
There's an outer Russian doll and inside of it are many more smaller versions of the same.
Imagine yourself opening up that first doll,
Taking off the top half and discovering that inside is another.
Another that looks so similar to the first,
Just a smaller version of the one that we opened up.
And then as you imagine with me,
See the little ridge around the center that tells us that this one can be opened up as well.
We pull the top half off and inside we find another.
Again,
So similar to the first two.
Just a few unique changes,
But at the core,
It's the same doll.
And again,
We see that little ridge inviting us to open this one as well.
Inside,
Another smaller version,
But still the same doll.
The same face,
The same features.
Just a few unique changes.
And once again,
That little ridge inviting us to open up again.
And then there's just one more.
Virtually the same doll as the first larger one that we started the whole process with.
But this time there is no ridge around the center.
We've come to the most pure,
Internal version of that first larger doll.
And for today's practice,
Let's think of that one as Parusha.
All the layers taken away,
Layers that looked a little like the original,
But with a few unique changes.
The essence of Parusha is it never leaves.
It's always there,
Waiting for us to uncover the layers that we've put upon it,
Finding it again.
But how?
How is the essence of Parusha always preserved under the layers of suffering and mistakes and disappointments?
That's where Ishvara comes in.
That divine,
Constant presence of light that keeps that light right in the center of your soul.
The light of goodness and compassion and peace and harmony,
All sitting there waiting to be rediscovered.
As we live our lives,
We cover up the core of ourselves.
Sometimes we close it up to the point that we forget that it's there.
And even when we do remember,
It seems very far away.
And we can't seem to remember how to find our way back.
But the beautiful thing about this Russian nesting doll is that they're never completely closed off.
You can always find the little ridge inviting you to open them up,
Just like this practice invites us to open up and let the layers dissolve away,
Little by little,
Getting closer and closer back to the core of who we are.
And for most of us,
We will go through this cycle many times in our lives,
Ebbing and flowing through challenges,
Through times of stillness and quiet,
Being reminded of Purusha as we catch a glimpse of Ishvara.
So now as we prepare to sit in the quiet,
Let's make this our work of opening up those layers,
One by one,
Opening up our own version of the Russian nesting dolls,
Letting one layer at a time dissolve away,
And then maybe another and another,
Until through each moment of this practice,
We begin to rediscover Purusha.
We feel the energetic presence of Ishvara,
And we breathe into that beautiful,
Pure,
Beautiful light of our heart,
Our spirit,
Our soul.
Just take a slow breath in here,
And ever so gently,
Let it go.
And as you breathe in this next time,
Just imagine that first layer,
The outermost part of you,
Beginning to melt away,
And then just pause in that new awareness,
Pause,
As one by one,
The layers begin to disappear.
Begin to bring gentle awareness to your next breath coming in,
Purusha,
Softly exhaling out,
Releasing the layers that hid it from you,
And then breathe in again,
Ishvara,
The divine presence of life that is always there.
Breathe out,
Releasing the layers that hid Ishvara,
That light from you.
Breathing in,
Purusha.
Breathing out,
Releasing.
Breathing in,
Ishvara.
Breathing out,
Releasing.
And as you find stability in that breath,
Realize that you are coming back to the connection to you.
Remembering the wisdom of Yoga Sutra 124,
Purusha,
Ishvara,
Always there,
Able to be rediscovered as we remove the layers one at a time.
Namaste.
