Thank You D!

Darren,

What a great class you offered to us last night. Thank you. Your words struck the very cord that I have been playing in the last two weeks.

From where does joy emerge? How do we seek it? Is seeking peace, tranquility, equanimity enough? And of course not... JOY must be sought!

And the story you told of 15 more years of suffering to grow to suffer some more to only realize that joy awaits... thank you again. It is not enough to suffer and grow for the sake of suffering more and growing more. And I know, the work need not be suffering... and even if it feels like suffering, I think it should only be the work of digging a tunnel through the mountian... making one's passage to the other side easier.

While digging, diamonds of joy emerge from time to time, and I appreciate your describing how they can be held, cherrished, & accumulated.

I had never thought of my world getting smaller when I hide. But you are right, it does. When negative feelings emerge, I thank you again for sharing that hiding from them (a defense mechanism that perhaps is effective in a short run) only makes my world smaller. Your insight... that they just find you where you hide, and in time there are fewer and fewer places to hide. The box gets smaller.

And thank you for letting me share with you how this insight of yours aligns with where I have been in the last two weeks. That I was tired of fighting my deamons and could not bear hiding in dwindling disconnected places that prevented me from being the person I want to be. The person I have the will to be. So as I come onto the mat, my deamons are invited to the practice at my side, where I can observe them rather than trying to tamp them down or hide from them. As it turns out they don't like Yoga as much as I do.