Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.
There are thousands of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
-Rumi
After spending time with ahimsa, satya, and asteya, I have been reflecting lately on Master Patanjali’s yama (observance) of brahmacarya. It is one of the vows a yogi takes that deals with how to treat others. Traditionally, this yama deals with celibacy as a way to attain spiritual goals. So, how does this yama play out in my life? I am not a nun. I have chosen the path of lay person, of householder. Wife. Mother.
During a lecture that Ruth Lauer Manenti gave on the yamas and niyamas she said, “If you are a householder, then go to God through your family life. Your love life.” I have heard many and various suggestions of how to apply brahmacarya to the lay path, but that was the first interpretation that made sense to me.
It inspires me to allow the daily acts of my life to be my practice. As I bake the cornbread. Hang the laundry. Bathe Blue. Each can be an act of kindness. Of love. And when it’s not easy: when there is conflict, discomfort, tension in the family life, then I let this be practice, too. Even more so.
When I am short tempered, swimming in despair, longing for a stretch of time alone; I can sit with it. Let it teach me. Appreciate the lessons. See the ugliness and the beauty.
At the end of the day I can ask myself – –
Did I appreciate the simple joys of family life?
Did I love fully?
mammoth hearted moments 