Newsletter #2 - Empty to Become Whole

As a kid I loved the summertime on Long Island, because it meant time in the water and building sandcastles.  I would spend hours designing intricate masterpieces, only for them to be washed away by an incoming wave--when I would joyfully begin again…and then again. (Yes, joyfully!)
 
This week we explored the concept of Sunyata--which translates as emptiness, or as Buddhists and Yogis affirm a coreless reality. The concept wakes us up to (and helps us to be ok with), the fact that everything eventually falls apart.  It is seen as a path to enlightenment.
 
Sunyata speaks to shedding concerns about our comfort and accomplishments, because that isn’t really what makes you who are. Yes, I’m a yoga teacher but if I were to lose my ability to move with ease—I would still be ME at my core. It is the same for all of us, emptied of these definitions and social constructs—there is still the essence of you.
 
Like a monk building a sand mandala, an entrepreneur designing a business concept or a parent delighting in a child—the joy is in time creating, exploring and growing.  If we can come from nothing or emptiness (no expectation or attachment) we can move forward in an open-hearted way, ready to accept and learn from our situation and celebrate each moment--whatever the outcome.  The real challenge is to treat each moment as if it’s the most important thing in the universe, while knowing it is no more important than the next to come.
 
In the end, sand mandalas get brushed away, business ideas don’t always work out, and even the most wonderful of children have terrible meltdowns. Free to be empty, you are better served to grab hold of your own personal sandcastle moments (and then of course--to let them go!).
 
Couldn’t we all use a little Sunyata, everyday?