Where Is Your Shakti Going? A Navratri Practice

Navratri is traditionally a celebration of Shakti.
And Shakti is much larger than simply “our energy.”
This Navratri, ask a different question: what are you feeding with your attention?
A guided reflection on what drains you, what deserves your Shakti, and what you’re ready to nourish instead.

Transcript

Before we begin, Consider a slightly different question this Navratri. We often ask, How can I have more energy? How can I have more motivation, More strength, More peace, More calmness, Maybe more stability? But perhaps before asking for more, There is another question worth asking. Where is the energy you already have is going? How much of it is going into things that genuinely matter? And how much disappears into worry, Replaying conversations, Constant input, Trying to control things that are no longer in your control, Or repeatedly feeding something that leaves you more exhausted than fulfilled. Navratri is traditionally a celebration of Shakti. And Shakti is much larger than simply our energy. Within the Indian tradition, Shakti points towards Divine Power Itself, The force through which life creates, Sustains and transforms. So we are not reducing Shakti to a battery that becomes full or empty. But today, We can use one very practical doorway into that larger idea. What are you giving your attention? Effort and inner resources too. Where is all of that treasure, The gold, All of that is going? Because whatever we repeatedly feed begins to occupy more of our life. Find a comfortable seated position. You could be sitting in a chair or on the floor or simply wherever you are. Just become slightly more comfortable. You may choose to rest your hands gently on your thighs, On your legs. And if it feels comfortable, Gently close your eyes. Do not try to become peaceful. Or calm. Do not try to make this meditation special. Simply arrive where you already are. Notice small details. Notice the body sitting. Calm, Rested, Relaxed, Comfortable. Notice the weight of your body. Notice the contact of different parts of your body with the floor or with the chair or wherever you are sitting. Try to become aware of your natural, Effortless breathing. No need to deepen it. No need to slow it. No need to make it. Fast or slow. Just know. Breathing in. And breathing out. Breath is simply coming in. And simply quietly leaving the body. For the next few minutes, Nothing needs to be solved. We are simply going to look and watch. Bring the last few days to mind. Think of just the last few days, Not in a lot of detail. Just the general feeling of your life recently. Ask yourself quietly, Where has most of my attention been going? Is it to work? To a relationship. A decision. Money. Health, A phone, Maybe a person. Something that happened in the past. Or something that hasn't even happened yet. Don't decide whether any of these are good or bad or right or wrong. Just simply notice. Now ask. What has been receiving more of me than it deserves? Try to reflect and ask this question. What is receiving more than it deserves? Perhaps you keep returning to the same conversation. Perhaps you check something repeatedly. Perhaps you keep imagining an outcome that you cannot currently control. Perhaps there is constant information coming in, Messages, News, Feeds, Social media. Other people's opinions and so on and on and on. Or perhaps none of those apply. Let your own answer appear. No need to manufacture one. Now notice something important. Whatever came to your mind. You don't need to fix it right now. There is no need to correct it. Or to establish something around it. For this moment, Simply see where you have been spending yourself. Where have you been investing yourself? Now take this inquiry slightly deeper. Sometimes something drains us because life genuinely requires a lot from us. Sometimes it is a little too much. Caring for someone, Building something, Working through a difficult situation, Those things may deserve our energy. So this practice is not asking you to withdraw from your responsibility or to withdraw and cut yourself out from the world. Instead, Ask, What am I continuing to feed even though it is no longer helping me? Where am I constantly investing my energy, My Shakti, When I know it is not in my control? And it's not going to help me or not going to change my situation. Maybe a resentment, A fear, A comparison, An argument that ended hours ago. The need for somebody else's approval, A situation whose outcome is no longer in your hands. Notice the difference between something appearing in the mind and you giving it another 10 minutes of your attention. Something which really did not need more time, More energy from you to be given. Maybe another hour, Sometimes an evening, A day, A week, And sometimes maybe a lifetime. You don't need to fight it. You don't need to tell yourself, I shouldn't think about this. You don't need to force this. Just simply recognize, I have been feeding this. An awareness itself creates the possibility of choosing differently. Now, Bring one of those things gently to mind, Only something you feel comfortable working with today. Notice the thought, The situation, The person, Whatever appeared, Just simply notice. And instead of analyzing it again or judging, Just leave it unfinished this time. You don't need to complete the story. You don't need to reach a conclusion. You don't even need to make it disappear. Just simply let it exist. Without giving it another argument, Another judgment, Another explanation, Another imagined conversation. Return instead to one natural breath. Simple, Effortless, Natural breath. Breathing in, Breathing out. Breath is coming in. And breath is going out. The thought may remain and that's fine. But for these few moments. You are no longer feeding it. That is completely different from suppressing it. You are simply choosing where your attention goes next. You are simply choosing where you are investing your attention next. Now we return the inquiry around. Because withdrawing energy from something is only half the practice. Ask yourself, What deserves more of me? Not what should receive more of you according to somebody else or according to your ecosystem or the environment around you. What genuinely deserves it. Maybe the answer will be your body or your practice. Or your family. Or your work may be a hobby. Maybe simply resting, Learning something. A relationship you might have neglected. Something you want to create. Something simple that brings meaning into your life or perhaps none of these and just simply being more present for the life you already have. Becoming more aware, More mindful for what already exists. Let just only one thing become clear. Only one. Now notice the difference in your body when you bring this to mind. Don't force yourself to feel inspired. Just observe. And simply ask. If I stop feeding one unnecessary thing, Just one unnecessary thing, If I stop the feed to that, What could that energy begin to nourish instead? For these nine nights, Perhaps you don't need to transform your entire life. You don't need nine enormous resolutions. You don't need to become another person by the end of Navratri. Instead, You might simply begin noticing two movements. What am I feeling? And what am I nourishing? One takes awareness. And another takes choice. And perhaps this is one very practical way of relating to Shakti. Not simply asking for more power or more strength. But becoming more conscious of what we do with what moves through us, What already exists with us. Now choose one very small action for the coming day. Something very simple. Not an ambition, Not a resolve, Not a resolution. Something you can actually do. Maybe. You know, Perhaps eating one meal without my phone. Or leave one unnecessary argument unfinished for a change. Maybe just spending 20 minutes practicing or doing something that you really like or maybe for a change stop checking something repeatedly and take rest when rest is needed. Giving somebody your complete attention. Choose your own. And make it small enough that tomorrow it can become real, It can be sustainable. State that intention loudly to yourself once. Now state that intention softly to yourself once. Now state that intention in whispers to yourself. And now state that intention mentally to yourself. And then let the words go. For the next few moments, Nothing else is required. No analyzing. No deciding. No judging. No improving. Just simply sit. Notice the breathing. Notice the body. And notice that attention itself is available to you. Now, Begin to hear the sounds around you again. Feel the body sitting. Move the fingers gently. And when you are ready, Slowly. Slowly allow the eyes to open. Perhaps this Navratri, Alongside what you worship, Celebrate or pray for, Keep returning to one question. Where is my Shakti going? Not with guilt or judgment. But with awareness, Mindfulness. Because sometimes making room for something new does not require acquiring more. It begins by becoming conscious of what we are no longer willing to keep feeding. Namaste. Thank you for listening.