attachment

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." Anatole France

I received an email from my Maya Tulum contact Dena. This is the update, "Maya Tulum was hit pretty hard but we are going to rebuild. We lost eight beachfront cabanas and 4 are a partial loss. The other 10 or so will have some small structural repairs. We have a lot of cleaning up to do but hope to be up and running within a month or two. The eye of the storm came in at Chetemal which is just a few minutes south of Tulum and we experienced a devastating blow of surge and high winds. We prepared as much as we could but with 180 mph winds and 15-20 feet of surge waters there is only so much a staff can do. All of our friends, staff and guests are safe though. Thanks so much for your prayers."

After reading the email, my heart was feeling a bit heavy. Of course my rational side was saying, "Well it could have been worse". Then I found myself pondering a concept I mention often in class, which is attachment. Teaching students not to attach to how perfect they feel their pose is or isn't, not attaching to your thoughts, etc. I clearly feel somewhat "attached" to Maya Tulum, and to a certain degree this attachment left me with a heavy heart.

In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali says that "Attachment is that which rests on pleasant experiences. Aversion is that which rests on sorrowful experiences." I think that in our daily life we are constantly being pulled in one direction or another. Experiencing these highs and lows and attaching to them, can leave us feeling like we live our life on a roller coaster. For example, you open the mail and get a big hefty check from the IRS. Awesome, right? You can go shopping, maybe buy some new yoga clothes and so on. Then two hours later you go to start your car and it won't start (you are on your way to buy new yoga clothes after all). Oh great, there goes the money you just got from the IRS. You just went from one extreme to the other. Sent your little body and your mind on that big ole wooden roller coaster.

I'm not suggesting that we don't celebrate, get really happy, or simply have preferences. I think it's human nature. I think it's when we cling to these things that we create unnecessary suffering. Maybe the first step is just recognizing it, being aware of our attachment.... experiencing it fully, living in the moment, and then just letting it go.

Beautiful picture above taken by Tim Carpenter.