Change is a Call for Presence

As I drive Dalton to preschool through the gold and crimson forest roads, eerie Halloween decor peeping through the thick fog that blankets each turn, I have an overwhelming sense of thankfulness for Fall and all it brings. 

Bountiful harvest and cooler temps, squash dishes and pumpkin patches, costume planning, grounding, gratitude, the leaves (o, the leaves!), everyone back to yoga😉😉😆...

I soon realize that its not just Fall I am in love with. It's the change. I feel the same way with the first falling snow, when buds first peek out in Spring and those first long, warm Summer evenings. 

Each season's change is a call for presence. 

And while freshness begs for our attention, how soon will it be until I check-out on the beauty of our morning commute or walk past a tree—leaves a blazin'—without a moment for complete absorption, utter appreciation?

Earlier this year, my Dad and I led an immersion that wove together Yogic, Buddhist and Toltec wisdom. One (of the many) philosophical intersections was the danger of repetitive thought. When we live our days, months, years on repeat, we narrow our life experiences, live in a constant state of control and revoke the very real fact that each of us—and all things—are in a continuous cycle of evolution. 

I understand that change is not a place many of us willingly choose to frequent. The unknown can be full of fear. But the truth is that change is happening to some degree this moment and the next. We simply tend to glaze over how it is unfolding because we are too busy or too afraid.

This is where yoga steps in. Again and again, the practice asks us to pay attention to the minute details that are so easily missed, readily missed, even eagerly missed. It reminds us just how capable we are of existing in discomfort and noticing what is there to feel, experience and learn in what is new. 

The unknown—the change—is not something to fear but instead something to revere as it demands we are paying full attention to the right now.

Just as the trees are transforming right in front of our eyes, what in your life is evolving and how can this change be a call for increased presence?