Surrender or Obedience

My yogi begins most of her classes by passing around a basket full of tiny laminated cards.  Each card has a word on it- I call them intention cards although some women in class call them angel cards.  Ho hum.  But they are what they are.  Tiny cards with dense words. Or good God fearing, yoga practicing Christian women, depending on which part of that statement you expected me to elaborate.  

Most of the time I get words like 'love,' or 'responsibility'.  You know, fun things on which to meditate during my practice.  Love.  Yeah right, I always think 'or lack thereof.'  Responsibility.  Hm.  Same thought runs through my mind... 'or lack thereof.'  But neither is here nor there.  Sometimes I get really interesting cards, words like obedience.  Obedience.  I was admittedly a bit huffy until I meditated about 'that word' for a while and finally came to a profound realization that 'obedience' equally applies to yourself as to others, if not slightly moreso.  In case the grammar of that last sentence was a bit high handed, let me hash it out a bit further.  I owe obedience, first and foremost, to myself.  We all do.  I owe obedience to nature secondly (depending on your belief systems, you may have a different rank for the first and second).  My own essence and then the essence of natural being; one of the many dualities of the universe.  Booyah.  Then somewhere down the list I owe obedience to a select few people or ideas, but I won't bore you with those details just now. 

But what about Surrender?  That was my word today.  Surrender.  

Surrender. 

And with staggering profundity, I realized that tomorrow I fly to New Zealand for six weeks to pursue yoga, pleasure, healing, nourishment.  I fly to New Zealand for six weeks to surrender myself to nature, to myself, to those beings to which I owe the most obedience.  And surrender is exactly what I will do when I am there.  In attempting to inhabit myself, find my own unique space, and learn to love it there, I will surrender myself completely. 

To anything and everything good.  To all those ideas, concepts, people, practices that are good.  And I mean good.  Simple, perfect, good.  I will surrender myself to learning, to teaching, to growth and to rest.  REST.  It's hardly a term that I use or can apply to myself very often in any sense.  I am not by nature restful or at ease resting.  And this will be my most difficult surrender.  To the time I need to rest so that I may mend.  

Anyway, I love you all who read this blog.  I am honored that you do.  Namaste (the divine in me salutes the divine in you) for that and to you all.  I bow to you. 

But don't be surprised if you don't get a fresh one for a few weeks because I'm not sure about the Internet connection at an Ashram on the Coromandel Peninsula of the North Island, New Zealand.  

Until next time my darlings.