A common phrase that I hear when I take yoga classes (or am the recipient of unsolicited advice!) is "let it go". Sounds simple enough but if it was that easy would we really need to be reminded of the idea each time we lay down at the end of class? Mary Oliver is one of my all time favourite poets as she draws inspiration from nature on how to approach life and hits the mark each time. Below is her poem "in blackwater woods" where she unpacks the idea of "letting go" a bit. She advises to love deeply, take it all in and then release adding depth and process to the need to "let go". Next time you are in savasana or advised to "let go" add in these few steps and see if you can get closer to surrendering.
in blackwater woods. mary oliver.Look, the trees are turning their own bodies into pillars of light, are giving off the rich fragrance of cinnamon and fulfillment, the long tapers of cattails are bursting and floating away over the blue shoulders of the ponds, and every pond, no matter what its name is, is nameless now. Every year everything I have ever learned in my lifetime leads back to this: the fires and the black river of loss whose other side is salvation, whose meaning none of us will ever know. To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.
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AuthorSarah-Jane loves learning, listening, sharing and doing yoga! Archives
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