What is Present for Consideration?

July 12, 2006 Thai Seminar in Tempe, AZ

July 19, 2006 Thai Seminar in St. George, UT

Each class we teach…we learn.

Every class has its own energy and expresses a unique voice. A student asked “I have this pain____, How do I get rid of it?” She asked the same question that so many of our clients ask us.

It was in massage school that a very insightful teacher introduced us to the idea that when challenging events show up in our lives we can a) label, diagnose and treat our issues in medical fashion or b) we can forge a new relationship with them and treat them like “projects” . . . something we take the time to work on.

We still gravitate toward this term “project” to relate with our physical, emotional and mental disturbances. Dealing with projects seems to make them much more approachable than a diagnosis or issue we’re stuck with (especially when it’s possible, maybe probable, that we’re living with multiple projects). I decided it was time to look up the word project in the dictionary and it read, “a task or problem engaged in by a group for study; [something] present for consideration.” I can’t think of a time when there’s not something present for consideration. This brings me to one my favorite yogi axioms, also shared with us by another great teacher who said “Everything exists to be acknowledged”.

Acknowledgment of pain in our body, mind, heart or spirit is a first step in healing. As soon as we bring acknowledgment to our project, our relationship to it changes. We don’t have to “do” anything necessarily, to change or get rid of our projects. Just as every person wants to be recognized, so too, does “everything exist to be acknowledged”: even our projects. Acknowledgment without judgment allows us to just witness, listen, or be good company with our project—maybe even sit down and have a cup of tea with our project. In acknowledging projects, we are inherently practicing acceptance. And rather than numbing out, escaping or fighting our projects, we can become friends.

“The only problem that ever exists is not accepting things the way they are. This is the cause of all suffering.” Daniel Levin, The Zen Book