Meditations: submission as a path to truth
by Nancy B. Loughlin
Published in News Press on July 21, 2015
Anna Withrow of Yoga Bird, For Myers, demonstrates Thunderbolt.
Submission isn’t always negative, and it isn’t always comfortable.
“Fifty Shades of Grey” aside, the word “submission” has a negative aura. It connotes weakness when, to the contrary, it is spiritually brave and empowering. It takes courage to dismiss the ego, suspend denial and be vulnerable to truth.
Begin with Thunderbolt. Kneel and sit on your heels. Press the tops of your feet into the floor.
For some, this can be brutal on the knees, so sit on a folded blanket or two (or three) to lift your seat.
As you sit, stack your heart above your hips and your head above your heart.
Ask yourself: “How much time am I wasting with hoping?”
Ask yourself: “How do my likes, dislikes and attachments rule my life?”
Hope is banking on an uncertain future while attachment imprisons you in the past. Our likes and dislikes trap us in endless cycles of attraction and flight. All of it drags you from now.
Can you surrender the cult of your own personality, separate from ego and be present with your authentic Self?
If you can’t handle this truth, you’re not alone. Journalist David McRaney has written about this resistance known as the Backfire Effect. Research shows that when you are confronted with information that contradicts and even disproves your most stridently held beliefs, you’ll dig in your heels and cling to your falsehoods for dear life. The ego refuses to submit. The legend becomes fact, and you live the legend.
Go even deeper, and open yourself with greater humility and reverence for truth.
Hero Pose. As your comfort level increases, move into Hero Pose. While sitting on your heels in Thunderbolt, separate your feet so they are wider than your hips. Keep your thighs as close as possible. Externally rotate your calves and sit directly on the floor.
Again, if your knees start to complain, stack as many blankets you need underneath you.
Aja Reeser of Yoga Bird, Fort Myers, begins to recline Hero Pose.
As you sit in Hero Pose with your spine straight, you may choose to yield further. Lie back onto your elbows and allow the front body to be vulnerable. Perhaps recline completely or onto a stack of blankets, stretching and exposing the energy body.
Aja Reeser of Yoga Bird, Fort Myers, demonstrates reclined Hero Pose.
Ask yourself: “How can I accept others and the world for what they are?”
If you don’t, you’ll either live in hope or denial, neither of which is truth. Or, even worse, you’ll continue with the fantasy of living to change other people. Trying to cajole others to shapeshift into beings that conform to your likes, dislikes and desires is the epitome of selfishness.
This does not mean you are inert. You must act in accordance with your authentic, spiritual Self.
As you lie back in the aptly named Hero Pose, ask yourself the final question with humility and reverence: “How can I serve?”
Be submissive, pliable and receptive. Then, not only can you walk into the light, you can be the light.
Trust thyself as you are a guide, redeemer and benefactor. Then you can advance on chaos and the dark.
