Binds
Updated: Feb 27, 2022
The body is a fascinating place full of streams of cells and blood. I'm over simplifying, certainly. Like I said, it's fascinating, all of it facets. Each muscle and organ and bone moving to assist the greater good. You are a miracle, my friend.
I know we don't always feel miraculous. But if you think about all that has to come together to keep you going from here to there, physically, mentally, or even emotionally, I think we can all agree to the bodies magnificence. How amazing is the Creator.
The body tells the story of where we have been, what we have experienced and learned. Somewhere within you or on you is a "scar" that healed (or didn't) as you have been living. Something that you deal with everyday is unknown and unfelt by another. Why? Because, only you have had those experiences.
This can feel good and challenge us. It can be hard to let go of the hurt that someone has caused, to forgive, and move on because on some level we feel we will be letting someone off the hook, maybe ourselves. And that is true. That someone is us, not them.
What we bind our attention to is given power whether we want that power to go there or not. If we bind ourselves to a thought, our attention will go there. If we bind ourselves to a substance, or job, or person... Many things can we make into an idol. What we think about most if we do not practice surrendering it, can become a false savior, if we hold too tightly.
I used to feel this way about wine. Not that wine was an idol, I did not bow to it. Well, not physically did I bow, but I gave up my power in order to have it. I was bound to it. I thought that I needed it to relax. I found my thoughts always going to what I might try next time or how I could get home to relax with it. A gathering wasn't right if it wasn't there. I was bound to a faulty way of thinking about how it would save me from my anxiety or bad experience. Since November 25, 2021, I can say that is no more my bind!
Binds can actually have a good effect if we approach them in the right way.
Holding hands is a bind, holding a mudra, or crossing one's legs. We have internal binds, too. In yoga, we call them bandhas, or internal locks. And knowing these locks helps the practitioner to address other parts of the body with more prana (life force), or leverage. Sometimes, being able to hold one's toe with thumb and index finger creates enough of a bind to support the lift of the leg or stretch of the muscles of the shoulder girdle.
What we bind to makes all the difference. And the choice is ours to make. I suggest we bind our actions to Love, in each moment. Put on love again and again and keep coming back to yourself, bound only to the next loving action, and nothing but that.
Join me to practice a loving bind at the heart this Valentine's Day. Join me on Zoom or Instagram Live (6am-7am PST) for my Align at the Heart class.
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