I lived in Thailand earlier this year to take a course from a very wise woman. She had lived and worked on tantra and understanding life from the inside for many decades and every day, we would gather on her living room floor as she would share her life and lessons with us.
The key was that “we should always remain loose and free, like a leaf blowing in the wind or seaweed dancing in the ocean.” 🍃
Allowing the currents of life to sweep us without feeling the need to control or resist. Simply being. Simply receiving.
I realised at the beginning of the course, how much I let my mind and the perception of others control my actions. And ultimately how this controlled my life. I needed to understand this on a deeper level, the psyche and how often it was happenning. I needed to observe and I needed surrender.
So, after class I would go off to the ocean and practice for hours, even on my days off I would challenge the mindset of control and expectation persistently.
Giving up a fight against the current and allowing the tide to take the decision. In total faith that I would end up exactly where I needed to be. It was a practice.
The more I understood this on a physical level, the more it would translate on a mental level. Sometimes our bodies are the best teachers when our minds are the ones that need the lesson.
I learnt that in a state of surrender, I would float. It’s just the mind that is calculating risk rather than the reality of anything otherwise. We are much more intelligent and capable than we allow ourselves to be. We are hardwired for survival.
So in this state of floating, I would focus on letting go of who I was and what I thought I should be. I simply enjoyed the sensations of life, the buoyancy and the beauty of everything happenning around me, the sounds, the colour of the sky and the touch of the ocean.
I experienced life in a way I would never know if it was my mind that was always in the driving seat, dictating how everything should be. Letting it all go by so fast, because we’re already measuring the next moment so that it can’t be enjoyed at all.
I had to let go of everything else to experience that moment. My muscles, my breathing, my mind, everything has to become loose and natural. Only then could it be enjoyed.
This embodiment was a beautiful lesson of surrender. And one I’ve carried out of the ocean and into the world, allowing life to be lead by whatever comes rather than whatever I was trying to make it be.
Living in a state of receiving and no longer fighting against the current.
Photo credit: Marco de Waal
Lessons Learnt Daily 