At times we have to slow down and allow the world to go at its pace, while we rejuvenate and reinvigorate our souls. At times we pray and meditate at other times we find ourselves making the jump from knowledge to wisdom. 

August 5, 2012, Lakewood, CO

11:17:09, hours MDT

...continued hiker’s meditation…

“In life we must learn not only how to live, but how to die well.”

Seneca

Meditations from the Mat, Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison

Day 195

When my master and I were walking in the rain, he would say,

“Do not walk so fast, the rain is everywhere.”

Shunryu Suzuki

“Out of the pain of where we have been, many of us come to the mat in a hurry. Our self- study has revealed a universe of pain and loss, while at the same time it has intimated that there is a better way. Some work on the mat has brought some relief; therefore, we assume, more work on the mat will bring more relief. 

So we attend workshop after workshop, attempt postures of ever increasing difficulty. We are in a hurry to escape the pain we have been in and are still contending with, but our haste is self- defeating. Do not walk so fast. The pain you wish to escape is everywhere. Do not walk so fast. The grace you seek is everywhere.”

Reminds me about the years of time I put in doing just this. Reminds me about making time to ARRIVE.

Just arriving takes time. Arriving at the mat takes time to adjust to the asana, pranayama and motion in between postures. Patricia Hansen used to tell us in her Yoga class that we will always be “beginners.” I remember the first set of hikes at GRCA 2005 through winter 2007. It took me this many months to adjust from the inculcation to go fast over the course of the last career and living in the socially busy State of Colorado…

Took me a similar time to adjust to living in the SW 40+ years ago too, although blissfully I believe I was not aware of the transitioning time required to Arrive. Suzuki reminds me of the many times I have walked slower in the rain/ weather/ ice- fog of the Colorado Plateau and the 5-day a week walks into and from the Inner Canyon Ranger Station. At some indiscernible juncture with time, energy and matter, I believe I did not walk so fast. I arrived in the present moment. The memories are solid of this- ‘arriving slowly.’

Going fast always gives me a lament for being in such a rush. When involved in evolving it behooves the practitioner to observe the current internal/ external environment and then remove from the environment that which is indicated for the change. Going fast always gives a ‘less than-- result.’