How to make sense of the tragedy that befalls Virginia Tech, and certainly all of us is beyond me. Articulating the shock, sadness and loss that many feel today as they navigate through the cascading emotions of grief is more than most of us can bear. For those of us farther removed from the tragedy, this is a horrifying but huge example of how impossible to remove ourselves from some level of sadness, shock and grief in our lives. On Sunday, Pete and I started a class on Mindfulness Stress Based Reduction, a program developed by Jon Kabat Zinn, a wonderful and amazing teacher of mindfulness who began teaching this program for those recovering from medical trauma at UMass hospitals. One of our handouts was Kabat-Zinn's book, Full Catastrophe Living, which articulates our life as such:
"Catastrophe here does not mean disaster. Rather the poignant enormity of our life experience. It includes the crises and the disaster but also all the little things that go wrong and that add up.The phrase reminds us that life is always in flux, that everything we think is permanent is temporary and constantly changing. This includes our ideas, our opinions, our relationships, our jobs, our possessions, our creations, our bodies, everything."
Our yoga can teach us how to live mindfully and joyfully in the full catastrophe. Today, I am still learning this.
Best to you in your journey today. In this moment.
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