I am in the process of clearing my wardrobe again, as I often do when seasons change. It’s definitely getting colder and I don’t need all those tank tops, dresses and t-shirts. This is the moment where, with some time and honesty, I stand in front of my wardrobe and see all those items I did not wear the whole summer and maybe not even the summer before. But how nice is that dress! “I will surely wear it on the beach next time!” My intent of living a year without getting new clothes is helping me out. I did not buy anything new, and yet there is so much I haven’t wore.
I have learned to walk through Banhofstrasse, admire the beautifully (and luring) arranged shop windows without entering and buying anything, I can try to really send off that t-shirt to the recycle bin this time!
It’s not an easy process. What I have observed is that once you start letting go, once you start softening in one field of your mind/body, there will inevitably be another field that makes it’s way to your awareness where you notice tension and a potential of a lot of work left. It is an unending story! When I see my wardrobe now, it hasn’t received anything new (besides some gifts) and yet there is so much I did not use and could let go of.
We can apply this to many other fields of our lives: the mind, the body, our way of living. There is still plenty space to make space and to create room.
I am extremely thankful to the practice, yet, I observe that all I have worked myself thorough is just the tip of the iceberg. This can seem very frustrating, because if I look at myself, what I was 10 years ago and what I am today, I see two different humans. At least I think so. Yet I have just opened some doors, that where hiding other doors that for sure hide more doors to open. With this practice, we become aware of the unending potential of our lives. And also of the unending work that lais ahead. As Richard Freemand said, and I think I even saw him wearing a t-shirt saying it: “Yoga ruins your life”.
There is still more to let go of, this can apply always and for each and everyone of us. Keep the work up! Namaste.
