At times we may get pulled into a feeling that we are falling behind. We are falling behind with where we are in our lives. Our peers are seemingly getting ahead of us (getting that promotion, published, a house, recognition). Or our friends are getting married, having babies. Actually they are choosing not to get married & not have babies, while we are at home married with babies or a cat. Alternatively that feeling that we can’t seem to keep up – can’t keep up with the speed of things these days, the speed of technology, the speed of New York City. Even on our yoga mat, where the breath is trying to reunite with the body, the mind with the moment.
With my ankle still not fully recovered from its sprain 3 weeks ago, I was entering the subway station when I heard the train arriving. Forgetting for a second I had an injury, intuitively I started gathering momentum to run towards the train. Not even completing a full step, my sprained foot stopped me in my tracks with alarming pain.
Often it seems we are each specially fitted for certain speeds. Some of us are in our capacity at a rhythm where deep reflection & meditation are possible, by which some of the mysteries of our existence can be considered, illuminated, illustrated, or touched upon. Others at a rhythm where through the discipline of effort, study, investigation, problems are solved, ailments healed, innovations enabled. Others even at a speed of an immediate call to action, the doers, the multitaskers, the activists. Each contributing to the balanced symphony of life in very essential ways.
And one of the things that allow us to thrive, even in our relationships with each other & especially our bodies, is to become sensitive to how the rhythm of our vessel enables us to interface, intermingle & commune with the world in our very own essential way.