Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Shiva's Turn

There is a similarity in the cycle of all things.  There is a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Creation, sustainance, dissolution. 
In yoga, we learn of the Hindu deities who represent these things.  

Bhramha is said to be the creator.  He is the beginning of the beginning. The one who sparks something out of nothing. 

Vishnu is said to be the sustainer.  Vishnu's job takes the longest.  He's responsible for the middle. This is where so much work happens.  

Then comes Shiva, the destroyer.  Shiva is said to signify endings.  He bounces in and leaves a wake of destruction

When I first learned of Shiva, he sounded terrifying.  But, Shiva has just danced through my life and I have come to fully appreciate the power of his destruction.  Without the endings, there is no room to experience that moment of stillness before Brahmha gets to work again. 

Last week, left a job where I had been for over 7 years and finished yoga teacher training all at the same time.  It has been the culmination of a stressful working environment and the tremendous amount if energy that goes into the birthing of a yoga teacher.  For now, I appreciate this breath of peace.  The new job will undoubtedly become busier and I will, hopefully, get busy balancing practice and teaching obligations. Without the dissolution or destructionof life as I knew it, there would be too much noise to hear the subtle and glorious OM of silence.