Acknowledge Suffering

What is the first waking moment you can remember in your life? I remember being 3 years old and locking myself in an unlit closet. I was trapped and crying for help.  If you were to ask a group of people this question I bet you the majority of them would answer you with an experience of suffering. One important foundation of yoga is that it exists to address your suffering. Yoga is a response to your pain. A good yoga class or session trains you how to respond when you're suffering.

How often do you acknowledge that you're suffering? Not often enough. But you must start because this is the start of your training. You must turn your attention inward and notice what is going on inside of you. WHAT ARE YOU FEELING? Becoming perceptive about how you are feeling is a foundational tenet of Yoga. By simply becoming aware of your inner world you will empower yourself. You are your own ally. When you know you are suffering and square on it, rather than projecting it out into the world, you will make the suffering more manageable.

However, noticing the ways you suffer and inflict pain on others is hard. We all can fall into behaving like bullies, dodgers and egoists therefore forgiveness is key to the training process. You need to forgive your mistakes, ignorance, anger, carelessness, and character flaws. The universe is not meaningless. When you lash out and behave in an unconscious way you will eventually pay with physical disease, emotional problems or relationship problems. By acknowledging your suffering and forgiving yourself you will start to create a safe inner field, a psychic vessel of containment for your encountering suffering and healing. You'll be more proactively invested in how your life plays out as it unfolds. This is different than ignoring suffering and having to deal with its consequences later. You'll slow down and eliminate the collection of health debt, emotional debt or relationship debt and also fill up your stores of love, joy, and sacred connection to self, others, and to The Secret Dweller in the Heart.