Class Theme- Week 2 July 2015- Let it Happen and Let it Go

I recently read an interview (http://www.bangor.ac.uk/mindfulness/documents/23823-Bangor-CMRPNewsletterAmended_Prood_1.pdf page 18) with a mindfulness teacher living with a life limiting cancer.  She shares a personal mantra that she has been working with:  ‘whatever happens, let it happen’, ‘wherever it goes, let it go’, ‘there is no purpose [beyond this moment]’.  Your instinct may be to balk at this, as it can sound passive and defeatist.  

But reading her reflections on this, I think it acts as a much needed reminder that we continually need to draw ourselves back to the right now i.e. this moment and be fully present within it.  We can then LET it happen, so fulfil the potential the moment offers now we are in it.  We then have the power to engage with it and transform it rather than fight it or ignore it.  So we direct our energy in this way and then release ourselves from speculation of future outcomes that divert our attention away from the next moment and the next.  Our purpose lies in the now and what we choose to do with it.  Sometimes this involves planning our future efforts to realise our visions, one moment at a time.

On our mats, we can consider how to stay engaged with every breath of our practice.  We may become aware of energy diverted into wrestling with a pose and then begin to let it go to transform our experience.  We can then open our field of vision and find countless ways to connect more fully to it.  So find a purpose in each breath, let it happen, and then let it go.