​Waitless Waiting

I just went into this one week practice of Ashtanga Yoga every morning. I had tried this style of Yoga before, but this time, it brought with it new insight.

For those of you familiar with Ashtanga, many of the postures are held for five breaths. The lesson that this had brought me is the way the mind fluctuates. When my mind likes a posture, it can become attached and not want the five breaths to end. When my mind does not like a posture, it is restless in its waiting for it to end. The most joyful practices I had in that week was when my mind was "waitlessly waiting" for the five breaths to pass.

Waitless waiting is a joyful state in which you are observing moments pass by without the anticipation of what is coming and without the attachment of what is going. It is the quiet and peaceful observing of each experience as it unfolds. It is being open, willing and strong enough to trust the journey regardless of how it feels. To me, that is the only kind of waiting that I can live with.
 

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