The Pursuit of Steady Energy
By Theresa Shay
In the desire for steady energy one guiding principle will keep you on course.
Most minds make the mistake of thinking that steady energy will come by achieving certain conditions. Maybe you’ve heard your mind heading this way with thoughts like:
· I need to stop being so reactive.
· I’m going to stop thinking about that.
· I’m going to take on this situation once and for all. Look out, world. Here I come!
· It’s time for me to hole up and mind my own business.
· I know what I need to do. I just need to do it.
This approach will always fail because it is established on the premise that you can control your thoughts, and once you do, things will be fine.
Thoughts flow through the mind like a river. They come and they go. To try and stop that flow or control it is like trying to dam up a mighty river. The landscape upstream is swallowed by the flood, and when the force of that river overwhelms the dam, disaster follows.
In the pursuit of steady energy, instead of trying to control the mind and shore up your condition, turn instead to the guiding principle that never fails: spend time daily experiencing the energy you want to feel in your life.
When the body has a chance to let down and soften, fresh nourishment reaches every cell. When the mind gets to rest from thinking and thinking about thinking, it recognizes the innate quiet that soothes every upset. When the body and mind meet these experiences simultaneously by experiencing the steady, ongoing, unconditionally available breath, the trinity is present. Ahhhhhhhhh flows forth.
Our heady society believes we can think our way out of our troubles and into the desired solution. We exhaust ourselves chasing a desired outcome and resisting an undesired reality. All of this activity depletes the body and the mind because the motivation for the action is the endless thinking. The thought river will always have more ideas for you than you have the capacity to achieve. Moreso, the river sends down plenty of debris. The thought river will not guide you toward steady bliss.
The very simple practice called being present is unfamiliar. Yet that is where you need to turn.
Inside you is a sweet presence full of contentment, a connection to a cosmic energy and universal consciousness where all is well. The experience of meeting this inner presence every day will provide its own momentum. Like meeting your true love, all you want to do is find more ways to be together. Step into that river and follow it. Whatever is needed for your steadiness will be given.
Theresa Shay is the founding director of TriYoga of Central Pennsylvania, where she teaches weekly yoga and meditation online and trains others to teach TriYoga®. Each week, she shares wisdom cultivated from decades of TriYoga study and practice.
Learn more about her here. Theresa can be reached at Theresa@PennsylvaniaYoga.com. Find her on Instagram @theresa_of_triyoga for more inspiration and light.