"Grace was in all her steps, Heav'n in her Eye, in every gesture dignity and love..." –John Milton
I stumble over myself, a lot; my thoughts, my words and my feet. I stumble. I sweat a lot when I get really nervous. I walk so fast and furious at times that I trip over my own feet, bump into the person walking next to me and bang into walls; clipped a shoulder here, knocked a hip there and stubbed many, many toes. Sometimes I feel like the Tasmanian devil! I’ve always thought of grace or the quality of being graceful as a skinny beautiful ballerina with a long venous neck who smokes lots of cigarettes, eats iceberg lettuce and practices with determination, discipline and desire until her toes bleed in order to achieve such polish, precision, poise and sophistication in each movement as she glides across the stage. Grace can be defined as elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion or action. I’ve never been particularly graceful.
In his book Anusara Yoga, John Friend describes grace as “saying yes to the whole magical spectrum of life. It is a willingness to be aware of all parts of ourselves – the light and the dark…to look at whatever arises with freshness and freedom…without clinging or pushing.” Sharon Gannon and David Life explain grace as pushti marga or simply effort and surrender. Practice and trust. Knowing that despite what is swirling around in life, everything is exactly as it should be. This is the path of grace.
Particularly around the holidays, it’s easy to melt down and give in to the distractions that make us clumsy. Easier to question or second-guess our path and our purpose. I’m not sure what happens at the holidays but we can often get thrown off course and bump into walls, stub our toes and trip over our own feet when your grandmother asks if you’ve gained weight, or your aunt asks if you are dating anyone or your mother asks when you are going to settle down and buy a house. But truly knowing grace means that you surrender fully to all of the peaks and valleys of life and you answer their questions but know deep in your heart that you have the only real answer you need. I never understood grace until I felt it. I’ll probably keep tripping up here and there but with effort and a whole lot of trust, I feel graceful. And like a ballerina, I’ll continue to glide through life.
Enjoy the process, soften into the path and stay authentic this Saturday with a graceful practice.
I stumble over myself, a lot; my thoughts, my words and my feet. I stumble. I sweat a lot when I get really nervous. I walk so fast and furious at times that I trip over my own feet, bump into the person walking next to me and bang into walls; clipped a shoulder here, knocked a hip there and stubbed many, many toes. Sometimes I feel like the Tasmanian devil! I’ve always thought of grace or the quality of being graceful as a skinny beautiful ballerina with a long venous neck who smokes lots of cigarettes, eats iceberg lettuce and practices with determination, discipline and desire until her toes bleed in order to achieve such polish, precision, poise and sophistication in each movement as she glides across the stage. Grace can be defined as elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion or action. I’ve never been particularly graceful.
In his book Anusara Yoga, John Friend describes grace as “saying yes to the whole magical spectrum of life. It is a willingness to be aware of all parts of ourselves – the light and the dark…to look at whatever arises with freshness and freedom…without clinging or pushing.” Sharon Gannon and David Life explain grace as pushti marga or simply effort and surrender. Practice and trust. Knowing that despite what is swirling around in life, everything is exactly as it should be. This is the path of grace.
Particularly around the holidays, it’s easy to melt down and give in to the distractions that make us clumsy. Easier to question or second-guess our path and our purpose. I’m not sure what happens at the holidays but we can often get thrown off course and bump into walls, stub our toes and trip over our own feet when your grandmother asks if you’ve gained weight, or your aunt asks if you are dating anyone or your mother asks when you are going to settle down and buy a house. But truly knowing grace means that you surrender fully to all of the peaks and valleys of life and you answer their questions but know deep in your heart that you have the only real answer you need. I never understood grace until I felt it. I’ll probably keep tripping up here and there but with effort and a whole lot of trust, I feel graceful. And like a ballerina, I’ll continue to glide through life.
Enjoy the process, soften into the path and stay authentic this Saturday with a graceful practice.
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2 comments:
That's beautiful, Jen. Thanks.
Thanks, Seward! Hope you are well.
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