Greetings,
Beautiful beings.
Welcome to your authentic swing,
A meditation for golf and life.
Today we'll merge two of my favorite things,
The ancient Sanskrit text,
The Bhagavad Gita and the game of golf.
The Gita has been called the Hindu Bible.
It tells the story of the great warrior Arjuna,
Who receives spiritual instruction from his charioteer,
Krishna.
And in a modern version of this hero's journey,
Steven Pressfield,
The author of the legend of Bhagirvans,
Chooses to create a character instead of the troubled warrior.
It is a troubled golf champion receiving spiritual counsel from his caddy.
The story of this golf match is a metaphor.
No one knows better than a golfer that in the game of golf are contained all the lessons of life.
But the legend of Bhagirvans is not just a golf story.
It's about a character who loses his swing,
His authentic swing,
And has to find it again.
And in that sense,
It's universal,
Because we all lose our swing in one way or another at some point in our lives.
We're all tested by adversity,
And I suspect that many of us have at times hoped for someone like the Caddy Bhagirvans to come along and help us through.
So let's get comfortable.
We'll go into a guided experience today,
Reconnecting both to our authentic swing and to ourselves,
Looking within to remember who we truly are.
Let's take a nice,
Long,
Slow,
Deep breath in.
And gently let that go.
Let's do that one more time.
Nice long,
Slow inhale.
And gently releasing anything that no longer serves you.
As we get comfortable and settle in,
Notice if there's any areas of your body where you're feeling discomfort,
Tension.
Holding on and see if you can just breathe into that area.
Creating a little more space.
Allowing,
Surrendering,
Just being.
So I'm going to take us on a little journey about this authentic swing.
Relax and listen,
Soaking in the words.
Tapping into that innate feeling within your own body.
And so in chapter 11 of the legend of Bhagirvans,
We hear from the Caddy as he explains,
I believe that each of us possesses inside ourselves one true,
Authentic swing that is ours alone.
It is folly to try to teach us another or mold us to some ideal version of the perfect swing.
Each player possesses only that one swing that he or she was born with.
A swing that existed within before ever picking up a club.
Like the statue of David,
Our authentic swing already exists,
Concealed within the stone,
So to speak.
So it is our task as golfers to simply chip away at all that is inauthentic,
Allowing our authentic swing to emerge in its purity.
And so one may be wondering,
Is the authentic swing equated with the authentic self?
This could be the reason for the endless fascination of golf.
The game is a metaphor for the search of the self,
Its true ground and identity.
The search for the authentic self is a parallel to the search for the self.
We as golfers pursue that elusive essence our entire lives.
What hooks us about the game is that it gives us glimpses of our authentic swing.
We feel with absolute certainty that if we could only swing like that all the time,
We would be our best selves,
Our true selves,
Our authentic selves.
So,
How do we actually take action to reach this authentic swing?
Passing through three distinct stages.
First,
The pure state of unconsciousness.
This is when there is no thinking about what we're doing,
Just simply picking up the club and swinging.
It demonstrates wisdom.
It expresses faith in the existence of the swing.
It launches itself fearlessly into the void.
Yet this pure state,
Like youth itself,
Cannot last.
It must,
By nature's law,
Pass on to the next stage.
This is the stage of self-awareness.
Here we realize we possess an authentic swing,
But can't repeat it.
Sound familiar?
Some days we can't find it at all.
Our frustration mounts.
We begin to study,
To seek instruction,
To strive by dint of effort to mold and control our motion.
This as every golfer knows,
Leads only to despair.
Yes,
There is a time,
Of course,
To practice.
That is key.
And yet,
It is important to let that go once we are ready to reach the third stage.
This is an elusive stage,
Flitting just as enlightenment may glimmer for a moment.
And in realizing it,
It makes it fly away from us.
Paradoxically,
It is always there,
Nearest of the near,
Closer than our own skin.
It gets to us.
It is for us to surrender,
At last.
And then we will possess it.
And then we can play.
You are your swing.
It is the knowing alone that survives.
You are your knowing.
The knowing finds the swing,
And the swing is you.
And so,
In those beautiful moments purged of ego-disciplined,
Focused without fear or hope,
Living with every fiber in essence,
In the present,
And only in the present,
Remaining deep in detached rhythm.
It is those seeming opposites,
Those struggles,
And yet just beyond if we're willing to release,
That we can grasp and attain what we've been dearly looking for.
And so,
May this be an inspiration to you,
Knowing that your authentic swing is within you.
That the game of golf and the game of life are so closely intertwined,
Allowing ourselves to have a little more fun,
To stay in the present moment,
And to be.
The swing exists.
The authentic swing.
In all its perfection.
Within the grip already.
Just as our lives exist entirely.
In every precious present moment.
