Weather Report
Starting each class with a provocative question about our inner weather helped an influential teacher of mine bring us into presence and opened the door to awareness.
This clever approach accomplished two things:
It immediately changed whatever I was thinking about and my predominant mood. When I began practicing yoga, the idea that my mind (thoughts, feelings, moods, fantasies, and ideas) was somehow distinct from who I actually was seemed foreign and revolutionary. Yet once I realized that these thoughts could be released from their grip on me—that they were not me—it felt natural and obvious.
I've learned that, like weather patterns, the inner environment is always changing. No one mood lasts forever, and whatever pattern is dominant won't necessarily last for too long.
Again, this awareness was both obvious and profound for me.
To develop a healthy detachment from our thoughts and nurture an identity not solely based on what our minds tell us, we must cultivate two understandings: how our thoughts are distinct from who we are, and how we can separate ourselves from our thoughts.
Now that I have your attention, what does your inner weather today feel like today?
