Balancing Time

It is perhaps the time of the year that culturally gears us into thinking new beginnings and setting new year resolutions that has brought the concept of time at the forefront of my mind. And of course, as with most things, it has been appearing as a 'theme' over the last few weeks in my day to day life. Once you see one red car, you see red cars everywhere!

Time is an interesting concept - what it means, how it's experienced, how we relate to it and move with it. It seems to be interwoven in every aspect of our being - how we organise ourselves, by which time we are to do something, meet someone, efforts to "make time", wondering "where has time gone", time "standing still", it goes on and on, and it appears everywhere.

This period perhaps more so, as collectively we have made a loose agreement to treat this as a New time. Based on ritual and custom, which can be traced back on observing the cycles of nature, this understanding of the newness of this period asks that we take a moment, to take some time, pause and reflect. Reflect on the year just gone and based on such reflections consider our intentions, goals, and resolutions for the year ahead. For some this can be a time welcomed, an inspiration to begin anew. For others it might be experienced as its opposite- pressure, expectations of where we should be, should be doing. Either way, we wish each other a "Happy new year", we sometimes light candles to celebrate the movement of direction towards the light, and we celebrate each other.

For myself, mostly, I welcome this time, seeing it as an opportunity to begin again but having said that I have definitely also felt its opposite and the felt exhaustion that can come when such expectations (both from self and others) have not been met.

I think the language we use has a lot to answer for the way we experience the world. In our construction of time as linear, where we reflect on the year before and plan for the year ahead, we potentially run the risk of believing that opportunity for change is somehow fixed at a particular point in time, and along this linear path which is not only linear but also one way (as we cannot go "back in time" as much as we may wish to do so sometimes) we somehow lost an opportunity and can feel overwhelmed from not reaching those, too often, self-imposed milestones. And it leaves me wondering, how is that serving us in any way? How is that helpful? How can we make friends with time?

With this in mind it seems to me that speaking of the cycles of nature and the

cycles of time makes much better sense and takes away quite a bit of the pressure that this period and its expectations might bring. I find that understanding this time as the cyclical flow of nature allows for more softness as it points to a revisiting, a repeat of a pattern that perhaps we can work with little by little with each passing, rather than a fixed point of no return. It gives the feeling of space and opportunity and a sense of timelessness, as each moment, not just the January "new year", becomes a possibility for a new beginning. A new beginning which is balanced between acknowledging and honouring what came before as it has brought us in this moment, and, at this particular time of the year, between connecting with our inner wisdom, growing with the increasing light, to bring the inner outwards and allow our inner intentions manifest.

Yoga philosophy and teachings point towards balance as the way through which we can experience true happiness - to cultivate satwa by moving away from the extremes of tamas (lethargy) and rajas (activity), by observing Patanjali's yamas and niyamas, following Krishna's advice to Arjuna and find balance between action and inaction.

It seems to me that this quality of balance is intrinsically interwoven to our concepts of time and our experience of life. In my early 20s I was driving west one evening, from the coast going inland, with the sun setting in front of me, when I came to the realisation that if I could (which of course I couldn't) drive fast enough in the direction of the sun I could keep time still as the sun would remain perpetually setting. So there is something in how action is involved with the flow of nature itself and the ability perhaps to tune in with the flow of nature so completely that, being together in movement, what we experience is the stillness and the timelessness.

As we go through this cycle, perhaps it's more useful to consider how we relate with time and how best we can move with the flow of nature. We can experientially arrive at this point, perhaps momentarily, when we stay fully present with the cycle of our breath which perfectly reflects the cycles of nature. My invitation to you is to take a moment to turn your awareness to your breath and to follow it through, to all its expansive inhale and to stay with it throughout the complete releasing of the exhale. And to do so moment by moment, breath by breath, for several breaths. And in that diligent following of the breath in and out you might also come to experience the points in between, the points of balance between the incoming and outgoing flow of nature through our own bodies. And whilst practising in this way, my next invitation is to consider the balance between what your head wants and needs if you were to ask, and what your heart wants and needs, if you were to listen. Without expectations, 'should's or 'have to's, as you pass through each cycle, of breath, of season, of this season, take stock of all that brought you here whilst at the same time considering what your intentions for yourself might be, finding balance between releasing what no longer serves you and accepting the new that might still feel uncomfortable and unfamiliar.

Weekly Thursday classes will be exploring the theme of Balance more closely so do come and join us if this is something you would like to work with. How the breath and our energy body affects and is affected by our experience of the world, which includes how we inhabit our bodies and how we relate to ourselves mentally and emotionally, is a theme to be explored further at our next day retreat Finding Wellness: Our Breathing Body on Sunday 22nd of January 2023.