How We Need Structure to Be Free...

Dear Beautiful Universe;

Many of us have issues with constraints..

Limitations.. deadlines... relationships... parameters...

And many on the path believe so ardently in living in the present moment that they don't want to impose any structure in their life, make any plans, or dream too much..

But what I have learned is this:

Structure can be constraining and imprisoning, if it is contrived.. if it is imposed as a rule, and not as a reflection of the truth revealed in the stream of life itself, it chokes off and prevents freedom.

The biggest way we get caught in the trap of unhealthy limitation is in adhering to labels and a concept that comes along with them.. I'm vegan, I'm Catholic, I'm diabetic, I'm single.. what are we buying into when we let something that is meant to be helpful to our understanding of life experiences and who we are control us? This reminds me of when I see my students reaching out of alignment to use the yoga blocks where they are- who is serving who here??

On the mat I teach that there is a foundational structure, rooting into the earth from the third chakra downward, we tighten and tone those muscles for support.  By creating that matrix, that structure, we consciously guide the flow of life energy through the body, instead of letting it haphazardly fall where it may.

I am an advocate of remaining connected to the present always, in communion via the sensations of the body and emotions, but I do not believe that all structure constrains, nor does laying down energetic groundwork for your inspirations to manifest in the future deter one from this connection to here and now. I have found that intelligently and consciously utilized structure liberates, as long as it emanates from one's experience, and is allowed to evolve as the present truth indicates. Structure is meant to serve your freedom, to direct the flow of energy to liberate you, NOT to stifle you.

Daily rituals and routines should not limit you, but follow the natural flow of your energy and inspiration and make best use of it, even amplify it.

A big part of getting free to be authentic and thus stop suffering is to question everything, to look at everything in barest most open observation and see if it is serving the flow of your consciousness and creative expression into this world.

Dreams are necessary, or else we drift unfocused and waste our potential.  We have to balance inspired flowing and floating with just a touch of conscious direction so as to manifest the visions we see in our hearts.  However, the gap between points A & B are filled with so many unknowns, and the eventual outcome may look nothing like how we saw it.  Yet, its our vision that takes us there, one moment at a time.

We cannot be free is we let ourselves flow into eddies and get stuck in dead-end cycles.  Like a bonsai tree is shaped, we shape our lives by the choices we make and the actions we take.  This is a receptive activity that we must find, as it cannot be all passive.

Contemplate this.. where you can implement inspired structure to get you past your roadblocks and stagnant times, and when that slowed-down feeling arises again, change the structure.

DO NOT get so caught in the trip of structure that you forget that you are in control of your happiness in the moment. You are free.. you just let layer upon layer of "should" and "should not" stand in your way. If it isn't harmful to another and arises joyously out of your heart, it is good and right and nothing should stand in the way. You are your inspiration. You are your passion. You are everything that you truly admire in the world! You just need to get out of your own way. 

Much love. ;) ~Laura  

I Choose Loving You

For you
I will go to the edges of my mind
And let my ego show itself
In resistance
And I will wrestle it down and force it out

For you
In fact I see you being a light by which I better see
What is and isn't me

So for you
I will go to war inside my mind
When it produces an assault on our love
As minds tend to do with the familiar
And love will be made safe

I choose loving you
Because the work I will do
To keep it flourishing
Is the very same work I would do with out
To keep evolving anyhow
And sharing my soul & beauty & joy
With the one man I have ever found
That can appreciate every detail of me
Is something sacred and worthy
And deserves nurturing & protecting

Manifestation

Consider now, sweet one,

What is it that you truly want?

What life do you feel fit for,

What life is truly yours, worthy of your soul?

-

What do you feel, when you close your eyes?

What do you truly desire?

What pulls at your soul like gravity,
And sends tremors to your bones?

What pulls at you, like your heart will burst out?

What excites you, rouses you from a dead sleep, with lightning coursing through your veins?

That which sustains
Is not so much the sustenance of food
But the ambrosia of love and inspiration...

Life is worthless without love,
Without creativity,
Without the dance of energies,
Without synchronicity...

No fortune can buy true inner peace.

-

So what can you not live without?

What tears at your heart, makes you brave enough to banish doubt?

What makes you love so passionately that risk is undaunting?

-

Prayer is not the cardboard, faithless lip-service most pay

But the feelings you allow to play

Within your own heart and mind

So if you fear freedom,
Fear success,
Self-sabotage,
That is the life you'll find.

-

Prayer is not the words you speak,

But the passions you seek

Through the visceral feelings you keep.

Mind the feelings you allow to permeate

Don't allow those that deviate

From the reality you seek to create.

-

Fears, deprived of your energy, will begin to dissipate

So mind what you provide harbor,

It will become your home.

Feel the full passion of your inspirations,

Build your life upon that foundation.

Ode To Fact

Just because I can let go
Doesn't mean the truth doesn't show
Just because I shouldn't be in my head
Doesn't mean the energy isn't being read

It just means I can let it go and be at peace
The present moment sets me free
And we have some things about which to speak
But I need not let it worry me


Oh reality
Thick and deep
Filled with love
And intensity
Nigh agony
Under which I could let myself sink
But I will choose to float


Reality, reality,
Preference has nothing to do with thee
I have to choose what it is you bring
That's what I'm discovering
But I can turn my mood around
There's great power in that I've also found


Oh reality
Thick and deep
Filled with love
And intensity
Brutal, almost agony
Under which I could let myself sink
But I will choose to float


I'll take this heart and take this light
And I acknowledge my feelings tonight
But I will believe in what I see
Which says that I am always free
So if you want me, come to me,
Or through unknown the trust will breech
Let me in, with well-placed speech
Needn't be many words, but a crucial few
Open to me and I'll give everything to you.

And Then the Moment Passes

I feel so much,

Feelings layered so richly

I cannot differentiate

I cannot anticipate

Like an ocean 

With diverse currents

Rocking me with a gentle rhythm

But with force

Of course, 

I want to scream,

Because it's so much.

It's not bad,

It's not pain,

But so much,

It bears a tinge of agony.

It's just so much

I want to put my soul to it

Just to touch

The face of God emerging

Everywhere...

In this submerging,

Pushing my head underneath

Waters I no longer struggle against

I ride the high

Of love

I need no one to make me 

fall in love 

when I know 

my home is within 

My own hearts glow

No where to fall 

After all.

Shining smiling love light

Warm

And complete

If we don't ride the wave

While it's high

Say goodbye 

Because you are heading for another shore 

don't ignore your passion

Don't try and play it cool

Keep in fashion

With the numb masses..

Let yourself be what 

Inner urgency presses forth

Let it be, Let it out, 

Ecstasy, cast off the doubt,

Shout your love,

Praise the beauty you see,

Because everything is divine,

My chapel is this planet 

The moment is now 

And my worship is to bow 

to the Soul

Within all

My place is to hold the mirror 

To show & praise divinity

Sacred, playful, miraculous

Rustic and refined 

Show through very face

And place

I find

Let your life be redefined

By your heart-truth

Your freedom 

becomes living proof

Fate reroutes 

when we miss the turn

When our faith 

in the inner voice fails 

it patiently arises again 

and again 

Enticing us to believe

Never judging

Never less than loving

Sweet, smiling love-light

Melting us out 

of our futile fight

Of the flow

But THIS is the moment

So give praise when you feel it arise

Do not swallow it under pride

Too proud to bow at the feet of a stranger

To tell them they are a gem

Hold a mirror up to them.

To tell them of their good

Is to thank God

And to bless them

Support them

Is to know you are

Both

Holy beings

Never be so imprisoned

That you give up your chance

To be Divinity loving Divinity

In every form

Never conform for fear

Because one single entity 

Chose to manifest multiplicity

For a reason--

Shine!!

This life is your cathedral 

And we are here 

To assist each other 

In awakening

Some throw rocks

Others make love

Some give smiles

Hold doors

Offer compliments

Share sentiments 

Our sentience

Proves

Our purpose

And no moment will ever come again

Offer what arises

From the well-spring of your heart

Don't deny

Don't edit

Don't filter

Don't be afraid to fly

Each moment designed

To be born, grow

Pass away and die

So when the moment passes

Another will arise

But you'll never have the same chance twice

Stay open 

Heart, mind and eyes

Unafraid

To be the voice

Of the Divine

With a Tint of Melancholy

With a Tint of Melancholy

By Laura Harrison


everything has a purpose,
pain is a cracking open,
to feel,
to even greater depths,
heart wider each time you heal.


so why are you fighting reality?
will banging your fists change a thing?
or ask yourself what you are resisting,
and stop,
to begin to live your life gracefully.

we all feel pain, we all have truths,
that are too painful to accept
as real
all at once
it is a pain so sharp
so jagged
so tearing to our flesh
like searing and scooping out the organs
sucking all the wind from the lungs
pulling all of the light from the sky...

I know these pains,
I have felt them too,
but I have learned
a new way

to not deny the agony
to feel the inconsolable pain
but not to take it into me
and crystalize it
and tell myself lies
like
"this pain is me"
or to form around it
as if it were my identity..
to do so is to build a monument in the middle of my mind,
to lay out a shrine of worship,
to that which I wish didn't exist..
it is the surest way to misery.

So I do not deny my agony,
instead I let it tear through me,
I let the tears flow,
I face it,
I feel it,
but I
let
it
go.

I don't let my brain obsess,
I confess, it becomes easier with time,
I feel the misery,
I feel everything else,
and I don't close against the pain,
I open like a flower,
I blossom into reality,
and instantly,
even in agony,
I am free.

Try,
try it,
try it over and over again,
and breath by breath,
it will
eventually,
set you free.

Give it time,
and when you suffer,
ask yourself what you are fighting,
and your awareness
will begin highlighting
all the ways you resisted your salvation.

I am not saying there is a promise of no pain,
but suffering is an option that is caused in your brain

stop rejecting what already is,
and you are already free,
and your joy may not always be complete,
but it will be deep,
sublime,
steady,
with tint of melancholy.