I returned this week from the Fall Yoga Retreat with Lisa Lofthouse of Breathing Space in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The following is a poem that was read one afternoon.
Self-Observation Without Judgment
Release the harsh and pointed inner
voice. It's just a throwback to the past,
and holds no truth about this moment.
Let go of self-judgment, the old,
learned ways of beating yourself up
for each imagined inadequacy.
Allow the dialogue within the mind
to grow friendlier, and quiet. Shift
out of inner criticism and life
suddenly looks very different.
I can say this only because I make
the choice a hundred times a day
to release the voice that refuses to
acknowledge the real me.
What's needed here isn't more
prodding toward perfection, but
intimacy - seeing clearly, and
embracing what I see.
Love, not judgment, sows the
seeds of tranquility and change.
by Danna Faulds
from the book One Soul: More Poems From the Heart of Yoga
