Cross-Training Body Mind Emotions Spirit | Rachael R. Resch

It’s the eve of heading to Portland to begin my Black Belt training with Debbie and Carlos and 20 plus other Nia Brown Belts from around the country and around the world.  As I write I feel excited and ready to plunge in.  

But until a few hours ago, I’ve been productively procrastinating about getting ready, not wanting to step in to the process — as though I’m somehow not already in it!  I’ve been scaring myself and distracting myself from the moment with all sorts of stories.

Why would I rather listen to the insidious voice of an inner Wormtongue than tend to the tasks at hand?  Than step forward onto the next part of my path as it spirals before me?  Than smell the moment?  Than feel my body?

Because the of the sensation of my heart cracking open.  Is it breaking?  Is it blossoming?  Will I cry?  Am I dying to the moment?  Will I live?  Will I make it?  Will I love and be loved?  Will I be OK?

Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things. 

Mary Oliver