I first learned about letting life unfold with ease at a retreat at Kripau with Sylvia Boorstein, a wonderful meditation teacher. The phrase was part of a metta meditation practice. The practice is a wonderful daily meditation where you say four statements and wishes for yourself, the final one being “may my life unfold with ease.” You can then offer these to people you love.
After I heard the phrase I did not even believe it was possible. Life, unfold, with ease? I thought I’d test it out. And it worked. When I let things happen without so much pushing, it was easier, the results more in alignment with what needed to happen. Often things did not go as planned. I had to learn how to soften into the changes and not be attached to my plan.
The yoga posture that best grounds me into this idea of life unfolding with ease is a pose that I could NEVER remember the Sanskrit name when I was in yoga teacher training. My teacher would say it and I’d repeat it over and over again. Jathar Parivartanasana also called spinal twist.
It takes softening into this pose for it to share its benefits. I like it best in a yin class when we hold it for 4-5 minutes on each side. With time and gravity working with me I can just allow my body to soften and melt to fill the space of that time and place.
When things get busy and life wants me to push harder, work faster and do more. Or when I begin to get all caught up in the what if’s of life? What if a friend lets me down? What if I fail my child as a good parent? What if the advice I gave a friend was not what she needed?
I take a deep breath and say it again and again and again to myself. My life unfolds with ease. I get on the floor and into my spinal twist. And I breathe.
What does this phrase bring up for you? Can you soften into it? Give it a try. What do you have to lose?
Be well,
Alice Dommert
deliver me wellness
alice@delivermewellness.com
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