Realignment

Realise deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.

Eckhart Tolle

Many people I’ve spoken to this week are reading Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” on the understanding that it is a life-changing book. So I decided to Google it to check out some quotes. I have to say that a lot of it resonates with me and this guy seems to know what he’s talking about…he postulates (sorry, couldn’t think of a simpler word) that all unease, stress, tension and anxiety and basically all our fears come from focusing on the future rather than the present.

The other morning while having breakfast I found myself thinking ahead to the stretch class and a particular exercise which I find quite difficult and a bit painful, and dreading it. But then I caught myself – why on earth would I worry about it ahead of time? Why not just deal with it as it arises and breathe through it? After all, I will have to do it every day for the next month or so!

Learning to be in the NOW is an interesting one, and it’s true that I don’t know how I am going to feel at any given moment. After my first tendon alignment, I felt fantastic, like I was walking on air. The next day however, after steam treatment on my upper spine and neck, I felt completely wiped out, my right knee felt like it was going to explode and I was ready for bed by 5.30pm… I fought it for a while but then simply had to lie down. And so I’m learning that fully surrendering is not only about the treatment, but truly listening to my body and what it needs.

The stretching programme (adapted from Haksel Kanglon physical training systems) we undergo every day aims to retrain the body to work as a connected system – our trainer asked us to think about different parts of the body as family members (grandfather, mother, son, sister…). “They are all related” she boomed, ” we are trying to get you to stop overusing certain parts of your body – they need to talk to each other!” Easier said than done – in one class I had not one but two people anchoring and holding my limbs down whilst simultaneously pushing me deeper into the stretch. Even with this, I’m being moved up to the 8am class which is the advanced level…eek…wish me luck!

So how do I enable this connection and let my body be in the NOW? My coach has challenged me to not think or plan beyond two days while I’m here – “Who knows” she said, “maybe tomorrow you’ll decide to sit under a tree for the next six months”. I burst out laughing as I instantly conjured up this image of me several months later, sitting there with hair down to my bum (and who knows what other overgrown body hair), smelly and dirty, but completely at peace as passers-by gawk and whisper to each other about the strange girl under the tree.

But you know what, it’s actually really liberating not checking my diary constantly, not making to-do lists and thinking about what next. I am savouring every moment and truly grateful for each and every one.

From chatting, laughing and singing with friends while watching the most perfect sunset…to navigating the myriad of fruit, vegetable and spice stalls at Chaudi market…to an unexpected Friday night adventure through a hidden sandy village to see a gig by the aptly-named “Curly boys” at what felt like the other side of the world but was actually just the north side of the next town…to solving the puzzle of how to fit three people, two bowls of fruit salad and the most enormous dish of piping hot vegetable pulao rice in an auto (rickshaw) without one of us getting burnt or falling out of the vehicle (the driver ended up having my friend’s feet by his ears) and then finally finding the elusive pink house where the party was!

All I can say is a lot can happen in two days!

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