Finding Quiet in Chaos

It seems like the universe has woven another its themes into my daily awareness.  My yoga instructor shared this nugget with me this past week and I've spent a considerable amount of time with it sense.  She stated that a primary purpose of yoga is to "find the quiet in the chaos."

On first pass this seems like just another yoga-ism.  For those of you who have ever spent time with a yoga practitioner, you know that we're full of such seemingly empty platitudes.  I admit this was my first reaction.  As the week wore on, however, this phrase has hung with me and induced a significant amount of pondering.

Our days often brim with chaos.  Any graduate student will attest that the competing pulls of our various responsibilities do not often lend themselves to supporting a relaxing lifestyle.  Any working parent can share a similar story.  We justify that we must trudge through the tempest until we reach a "relaxing" weekend.  Then the weekends fill up with desperate attempts to recharge our mental and emotional batteries, a task that can be as exhausting as the chaotic week.  We live in the vicious cycle of anxiety and exhaustion with the promise that someday, eventually, we will get a break.

This seems ludicrous.  We never catch up.  What is the alternative?

Inhale.  Hold.  Exhale.  Repeat.


A small fraction of what we consider to be urgent in actuality is.  If we live our life at a sprinting pace, we simply fill the gaps with more work.  Our reward for working so diligently?  More work.  The work never ends.  So I offer an approach which instead embraces the journey instead of sprinting toward the finish line.  Our chaos, our obstacles, our challenges; these things constitute our life.  I get so much more from life when I slow down and view these things for what they are.  I am learning to find and appreciate the spaces in between the never-ending barrage that life offers.  She/he does not need an escape who can learn to detach from destination and embrace the chaos and avoid seeing it as a means to an end.  Avert your gaze from the fictitious end.  Watch mindfully for the quiet spaces in your day and embrace them with gratitude.