What I Learned While Hiking

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

What do you see when you look at the picture above? When you look at a tree? A leaf? A mountain? Yourself in the mirror? Life? Beauty? A cause for amazement? Miracles of nature? All of the above?
 

While hiking the trail in the above picture, I was amazed by the colours and life all around me. As I watched leaves falling from the trees I was struck by the idea that the tree does not decide when the leaf will fall. It does not decide the exact time to let go of something that is no longer serving it in some way. Sometimes the wind helps, sometimes the rain, sometimes neither. It seemed that the leaf did not decide either, but nature did. Of course it may be said that trees and leaves do not really have decision making qualities as such, but it served as an interesting metaphor and could possibly be up for debate ;)





As I sit here writing this, I am curious about what really happens to make a leaf fall off. It is true that the leaf no longer serves the tree in the colder, shorter days of winter. When I searched, I found a few different ideas. Some say the tree makes the choice, some say the leaf and others that nature and a type of "hibernation" causes the trees to shed their leaves. Since the leaves can no longer serve the purpose of bringing in food for the tree as efficiently as they do in spring and summer, they are no longer needed and would freeze and die if they stayed anyway.

What does all this have to do with yoga? To me it is a great reminder of letting go of what no longer serves me. As one example, in Corpse Pose - Savasana, when the exhale lengthens and a releasing of tension, air and anything else that is no longer needed happens, so too the trees go dormant and keep only what they need to survive. Sometimes I can decide when to let go, sometimes what is leaving decides and sometimes life decides for me.  

 

Core assets... once again seeing beauty in everything and knowing when to let go.