Are you being kind to (all of) yourself?

Monthly Newsletter November 2018

 November brings the full weight of darkness into our consciousness. We keep descending deeper until released by the Winter Solstice around 21 December. 

This time can bring up our shadows: fears, memories, regrets, resentment, disempowered sadness. These are not parts of us that we have ‘gotten rid of’ because we are too busy to notice them in sunnier months. 

We all live with shadow: time to embrace those parts of us that are less than kind, less than brilliant, less than smart or beautiful. Only then are we fully human. This is so beautifully expressed in the Rumi poem  ‘The Guest House’ : 

The Guest House

(Jalaluddin Rumi, Translated by Coleman Barks)

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

Yoga enables us to embrace every visitor to our ‘guest house’ – every mood, annoyance, sadness, joy – and so unite our ‘selves’ into an integrated being.

This November, there are many new offerings at Yoganesa – a perfect time to dig deep, relax, challenge, understand, and above all be kind to yourself!