© 2002 Jeremy Youst
In order to teach mastery, one must lead a masterful life. In order to breathe deeply, one must master breathing. Are you as fully in command of your inhale and exhale as you could be? Watch for the flow of energy and ask for the way to be shown to you. A butterfly opens its wings and closes them. That is all. BE patient. Witness. Then practice.
That which cannot be perceived cannot be understood. That which is not understood cannot be practiced. Practice everything. Practice is simply the flow of intentional movement in one’s life. Reorient your mind to the understanding that you seek, and practice will teach you the way to wisdom. Like waves at the bow of a boat, witness the edge of your forward movement and you will come to see the practicality of resistance. Without resistance, there is no direction.
Learn to be with and observe all resistance and you shall know how to set your intention for practice. For every current there is a pattern of energy, and for every pattern, there is a source and a resistance. Set your sails to catch the wind, not move against it. Use source to teach you love. Use resistance to teach you practice.
Source is expansive and free. Yet, resistance is the necessary contraction that leads to freedom. Notice how the two are connected as one in Spirit. Learn to experience this duality of movement and resistance and you shall become the master of practice.
Inside Source, at the center of every pattern, there is stillness. Stillness is simply silence at the edge of perception, the movement of perfection without resistance. Sound is the manifestation of movement as it interacts through the resistance called time. Inhale and exhale, after every movement or sound comes silence. During practice, the two become as one, sound and silence, source and resistance, movement and stillness.
Find your voice in this pattern of creation and watch how the breath moves with and through everything, in and out and in again. Without movement there is no awareness. Without awareness, there is no breath. Witness this flower of practice like a yellow butterfly that becomes momentarily still to soak up the warmth of the sun. Then, as you breathe, feel how the wind flutters to the sound of your own worldly existence.