Mother Nature is springing into action! Perhaps a bit early, but she is nevertheless stretching her wings and preparing for growth and renewal. Can you feel it? It’s time to step into the flow of spring and nourish our own seeds for another year of growth. Whether physical, mental or emotional, spring can be a great time to shed a layer of doubt and discover your own inner garden.
Inner garden? Yes, we all have an inner garden and it wants nourishment! The problem is, we often don’t realize that we have one waiting to blossom. It’s often covered over by weedy inner obstacles. And yes, we all have those as well.
While obstacles are generally perceived to be outside of us, Patanjali explains in Sutras 1.30 and 1.31 that the only real obstacles lie within us. It’s much easier to look outside of ourselves and find problems with the people, places and things outside of us. Wouldn’t you prefer to find fault in another and avoid looking within? But until we honestly begin to look within and gently remove the weeds of separation (thoughts of doubt, anger, betrayal, jealousy, fear, attack, etc…) we each remain on a treadmill of disillusionment while constantly seeking yet never really finding. We think we advance through blame and projection, but in reality we are going nowhere.
The higher practice of yoga is the ongoing process of identifying the obstacles within and holding them to the light of truth. It is a process of realizing how destructive we can be to ourselves (and often to those around us). The ego identifies with problems and obstacles because they uphold a separate sense of self. Without them, “I” might disappear—but isn’t that the goal? Ask yourself, “Who would “I” be without my problems?”
As an ego, we need our problems, but the seed for a better way has already been planted. The healing unification of yoga is an inner journey of discovering that seed of Wholeness. It wants to grow and it will do so on its own. Nourish the process by identifying and removing the weeds.
This spring, as you nourish any outer gardens, remember to nourish your own—with love—from the inside out.
