We go into balance poses in yoga. We hope good will balance out evil. We seek work-life balance. What is balance anyway?
Balance is continual movement around the center. Picture yourself as a yin-yang symbol. Dark and light. Balanced.
To find balance or to be in balance, we need to embrace both parts. It isn’t about the light overcoming the dark. It is about both sides, both forces.
Equinox, Day of Balance
Last weekend, we gathered around sacred fire, weaving a magic carpet, bringing mesa together in prayer, connecting to stars, connecting to the energy of the cosmos to make new maps. Whether you gathered in person, there was a place for you at the fire. We each join the energy in our own way.
Last Sunday we celebrated the equinox, the day for balancing light and dark. Whatever hemisphere you are in, this is one day of two where the light and dark come into balance.
We brought both light and dark to our Sacred Sunday practice.
For a balancing meditation: Sacred Sunday Meditation: Equinox and Two Years of Sacred Sunday.
Balancing Light and Dark Within You
I encourage you to honor the dark, to breathe in the dark. Expand your attention in the darkness. Think back over the winter. Did you find peace and rest in the darkness?
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark.
—Wendell Berry
Instead of thinking of driving out the dark, be in the dark. You might be surprised to know there is more light than darkness in your body. We think inside the skin, the light can’t get in, but when
peel back layers and look inside, there is so much light.
You don’t need to draw in light. Just acknowledge it, the way you acknowledged the darkness. Bring attention now to light.
Try this:
Reach your arms wide.
In your right hand hold the energy of the dark. Hold it with no judgment, set no value on the dark.
In your left hand, feel the light. Hold it with no judgment.
Feel both flowing in you.
Bring your hands together in front of your heart. Bring light and dark together.
Can you feel the balance?
You can connect to balance by returning to your breath. Breathe in and out of your heart. Breathe in and out of the four directions, with the four chambers of your own heart.
How does balance feel to you?
Do you need more sacred space in your life to come into breath, come into balance? If this calls you, join me and our community in Sacred Circle. Over the next two months in Sacred Circle we’ll focus on the chakras, finding balance and clearing energy in your body and the world. Won't you join us?