Releasing Expectations

It’s the ideas of how things should be that prevent us from ever letting go into the fullness of an experience or being.

We construct ideas and timelines of when and how things should happen. We close ourselves away from the realms of creation and confine ourselves into a box of rigidity.

Nature has no timeline. Things happen as they do and when they are ready. There is no rush or restrain but rather an unfolding as it does and is. Nature doesn’t question whether it is too late or too soon; it just does as it does when it is ready. It doesn’t examine its movements.

We as humans can tend to overanalyse, becoming stuck. We strain rather than allow, moving against energy, forcing things to happen or not on our timeline and to fit our ideas and expectations rather than letting them come as they are.

It is not to say step back and do nothing but rather act with due diligence and let things unfurl.

I remember one of my teachers on my 200-HR TT said to us after one of our first practices that we were all fighting our way through it, jamming ourselves into the binds, twists and folds of the postures rather than letting them be expressed as they come to meet us in our bodies on that day. We were being opened to the value and practice of acceptance and patience.

It’s always stuck with me.

By observing the natural world and practising yoga, we can learn to let go of the ropes that pull us into the cage of forceful action. The patience and acceptance are our teachers to remain steadfast in our efforts but to let go of the when and how things will come.

For there is no golden timeline. Things happen as they are ready to, and I often find the more I let go, the more they come with grace and ease. The less we force, the more receptive and mindful we become; we open space for creation and life.

As we release, we find trust and contentment in what is before us; we relinquish the desire for things to be a certain way and happen at a specific time. We tune into a deeper knowing and guidance that holds us in that we are in the right place at the right time.

To quote one of my teachers -

“You are always where you should be, and you are always moving. The gap between where you are and where you are going is implicit. Chill out and ride the wave both up and down. That’s it.”

Thank you, Amme.

Remain patient, celebrate and embrace the journey, and enjoy and soak in the magic of its unfolding. Don’t force it; let yourself surrender into life’s dance, tune into its song. You are where you are meant to be.

- Miles

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