You are the Boat

Happy Monday and Happy Holidays! I did something I have never done before last week; I was a guest on a health and wellness podcast. It was very fun (but I was definitely a bit nervous beforehand).  We talked a lot about suffering and ways we can NOT create extra suffering for ourselves. The podcast will be out in January and I will be sure to share it with all of you then but one of the concepts I shared is that we tend to cause ourselves extra suffering is in the ways we value our “good self” over our “basic goodness”.  Our basic goodness are all the things inside us that don’t change; our inherent, intrinsic qualities. Our good self are qualities we hold that society values and most of them change; youth, attractiveness, wealth, success, status. When we can connect more deeply to our “basic goodness” and attach less to our “good self” we find more joy and peace and less suffering. 

I shared this with my students this week and offered them the reading below by Mark Nepo to highlight how when we allow ourselves to be guided by our basic goodness; it becomes our inner beacon that shows us the way. 

Integrity

Integrity is the ability to listen to a place inside oneself that doesn’t change, even though the life that carries it may change. Much of our journey is about discovering the place inside and cultivating the ability to listen to it, while having compassion for the life that carries it. 
It moves me to share the story of a troubled man who, exhausted from his suffering and confusion, asked a sage for help. The sage looked deeply into the troubledman and with compassion offered him a choice: “You may either have a map or a boat.” After looking at many pilgrims about him, all of whom seemed equally troubled, the confused man said, “I’ll take the boat.” The sage kissed him on the forehead and said, “Go then. You are the boat. Life is the sea.” 
As we have discovered so many times, we have everything we need within us. This ability to listen inside is our oldest oar. You are the boat. 

We can practice “being the boat” on the mat by listening and accepting what the body is offering without going down the negative spiral of judgment. From there, we can trust that we know what is right for ourselves. It’s not about achieving the poses; rather the person we become as we practice them. That power exists off the mat as well; to see deeper inside ourselves when we look in the mirror, and to trust that we are the boat.