So Hum

Last week I was preparing for my Monday class and I didn’t have a message. Usually the message shows up sometime during the prior week and if I am mindful I catch it, but last week that didn’t happen. I sat to briefly meditate and connect with my breath; the deep inhale and the audible exhale through the nose. The translation of that breath in Sanskrit is So Hum and that translates to I Am. And there it was. As I repeated So on my inhale and Hum on my exhale I realized I had found my message for the week and it was in the reminder to accept myself where I was. As the breath repeated the mantra became an affirmation; I Am that I Am that I am. 

The I Am mantra offers something very powerful; an understanding of ACCEPTANCE. The term acceptance sometimes gets a “bad rap” because there is an assumption that acceptance means things can’t change and that being “at peace with what is” is the standalone goal. This is true at times. Circumstances in our lives, the decisions of others– there are things we do need to work to accept without trying to change them.

However the majority of the opportunity we have when it comes to acceptance is to view it as the ground floor from which transformation can occur. We cannot change anything that we cannot first see. If we live in denial or an alternate reality in the mind where we can’t see our part in our own circumstances, then there is no chance for transformation. Therefore acceptance becomes a very important first step. 

The path from acceptance leads us to the chance to connect with the idea that “What we resist, persists”. Once we can see (i.e. accept) where we are we have a choice to make. Do we fight it (resist) or do we shift through softening and meeting the pain we are holding? Do we repeat the same patterns that may have led us to this place or do we soften and discover another path?

We all know how this softening works on the mat in our practice. When we can settle into the body, meet it where it is, it often rewards us with some release and relief. When we fight and gut through it we often create extra unnecessary suffering. 

Meeting discomfort whether in our bodies or in our spirits is both courageous and scary. It can be easier to hide from it, to ignore it or resist it but then it waits for us, it persists. The acceptance of who and where we are in the moment and allowing the breath to help take us there is a simple but powerful practice. It is through the reminder I Am That I Am That I Am that we can start on the path towards freedom.