Your Personal Legend
I've been closely following the news and using mindbody practices to deal with the heartbreak and stress in the world right now. I've noticed that tuning into the news actually makes my body hurt. The last few weeks have felt genuinely disruptive. Because disruption is stressful, I hope you're prioritizing rest and seeking social support amidst the misinformation and turmoil.
In all this, I also do believe that this crisis also presents an opportunity.
It is an opportunity to demonstrate the value, “the gold,” of mindbody practice, which is about cultivating inner light and power. Mindbody practice is also known as the practice of alchemy, which is about transforming lead into gold. Earlier this year, I read Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, a spiritual classic about the nature of gold or treasure, and how pursuing one’s personal treasure can be a personal legend. The book is an adventure, but also a meditation: What is your personal legend or idea of what is golden and valuable? Is it wealth, security, and prosperity? Is it making art and expressing yourself? Relationships and community? Is it living according to skills and wisdom that you commit to cultivating? Despite the current pain and suffering, life is vast and beautiful, and it requires a commitment to remember its truth and beauty even in the middle of strain, pain and heartbreak.
There's a scene in The Alchemist where the main character shares his alchemic knowledge when pressed, even at gunpoint. The guards laugh and let them go on their way, but the apprentice just shakes his head in disbelief and asks the alchemist why he did what he did. He explains to his surprised apprentice that he was deliberately teaching a simple lesson: “When you possess great treasures within you and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.”
The alchemist even turns lead into gold to prove it's possible and gives it to his apprentice, but this gift is violently taken from his apprentice by thieves. While gold bars represent the way of the world, the golden light of the sun symbolizes the way of life, the promise of a new day and its possibilities. Later in the story, the apprentice is tasked with demonstrating his understanding of alchemy. He becomes quiet within and focuses on golden inner light and quiet to converse with nature, particularly the wind. The winds rise up and interrupt a war conflict to everyone's surprise. The ability humans have to get quiet and tune in with nature, the mind, the body, and the universe, shows that the path to inner power is ever-present and accessible.
Mindbody practice, a kind of alchemy, quiets the noise and connects you to what is truly valuable and golden in life.