SHAKE WELL BEFORE OPENING!
Practice Off The Mat
Vol. 1 Issue 15
Applies to juice and your practice in equal measure
I was recently in a YouTube rabbit hole of Mitch Hedberg stand-up comedy clips.
If you are not familiar, he looks at random everyday life observations and reflects on it through clever, sometimes seemingly random word play. Delivered in a unique style and cadence of one or two liners. It’s abstract and brilliant.
At any rate, I was re-watching a set he did on a Comedy Central special and he dropped this bit:
“You know, if I made orange juice, I would not be so hardcore on people. I would be more polite. Like I would not print 'shake well' on the carton, ‘cause you don't know how good people can shake, you know? I would write, 'Shake to the best of your ability.' Then I'd have a diagram that shows the uninitiated how to shake. 'Alright, put it over here, then put it over here, then put it over here quicker.'”
The imagery cracks me up and sure, maybe it sounds goofy as hell, but yes. I am still laughing.
More than that, I found myself smiling because beneath the goofy dad joke-esque delivery, there’s a a seed of wisdom that makes me think about a couple of questions:
How do you assume less about intentions or abilities? How do you stay present in the moment to be compassionately curious and open to the interactions, reactions, engagement, and responses to the environment and people around you?
Patanjali’s yoga sutras show that the mind is often distracted and shaped by assumptions, presumptions, and poorly defined perceptions. As a result, we craft stories and narratives that then take over our emotions and drive our actions.
How often have you made a poorly formed judgment or assessment on another person’s ability based off your own assumption?
That may feel like a heavy, awkward, an uncomfortable question to reflect on. But, it is also relevant and important.
Western culture is always telling you that you are never enough. You must always produce or achieve more. You must always be better than someone else. You are told how to categorize, label, evaluate, judge, compartmentalize, break down, size up, and compare the tiniest elements of another person. And based on that calculus if they don’t subscribe to preconceived notions of what is right or normal, then they don’t belong. Cast them aside. Dunk on them. Hate on them. Ostracize them. This includes how you look at and talk to yourself!
That is where the practice comes in.
You can practice connecting with your natural state rooted in kindness, compassion, peace, and grace. But you can connect that with strength, power, fortitude, and grit that will help guide your actions.
You can practice with other people to be reminded that every person is unique and different – and yet still connected on a cellular, subatomic, universal level. We all are equally deserving of the love and compassion that we require as social creatures.
You can practice in “non-idyllic” environments to strengthen your ability to meet the disturbances of the day with more skill.
You can help participate in bringing others along on your own journey by how you interact with them. Because your practice not only benefits you, but also all the people around you.
This is what drives me to continue to come back to my own practice. This is what drives me to keep learning, and studying, and sharing what I’ve learned to the best of my ability.
That is why Mettā was originally founded. That is why I am doing everything I can, to offer a sense of shared community practice, accessibility, and the spirit of radical welcoming alive while trying to keep this current iteration going.
There are no assumptions or expectations or requirements. The only thing that matters to me is that you are you when you choose to show up. Because when you can feel supported and safe and practice reconnecting with yourself on the mat, it becomes easier to do that when you step off the mat.
So, here’s to you! Here’s to your loving heart, your kind thoughts, your compassionate actions.
And here’s to your practice. May you shake it to the best of your ability. And if you would like a diagram to help get yourself started, or to reconnect with your practice, I’ve got you. Let me know how I can help you.
Above all else, and as always, be compassionate and kind to yourself. You’re an epic and amazing human, with a limitless heart, doing the absolute best you can. Nobody is more worthy of love, kindness and support than you.
This being a human thing is hard sometimes. Take a deep breathe in and let it all out. You are okay. You are doing fine.
****
PS - As I was finishing up the little details of the newsletter - the cross posting, getting it on the website, etc. etc. the song “Shake It Off” by Florence + The Machine popped into my head. Love this song as a meditation seed and an anthem for not getting trapped into the loops and cycles of what was. As the Wisdom teaches us - that just robs us of our present. And in this moment, now, we can choose to start again. With love, with kindness, with compassion.
Any who - thanks Florence for the reminder and the music! And to you - take care.