Bob Dylan MusicCares speech and spiritual teaching: Dharma Talk

(The parallel of how new songs arise from older songs…the roots of one arise from another)

I was listening to Bob Dylan speak about how and why he created songs like he did. How his roots in folk music and living in the sound of some of the great old folk music influenced him and created, for him, the space to create the music he’s so famous for. “All these songs are connected. Don't be fooled. I just opened up a different door in a different kind of way. It's just different, saying the same thing.” (BD) How his songs were extensions, not new creations. 

Our history and prior experience create new experience. It is, as we know, all connected. And in our yoga practice, we are working to support that connection…mind, body, breath, movement, past, present. Letting it all be NOW.  

In yoga asana practice we are always evolving. We can create beautiful ways of being and doing and also habits and behaviors that may not always serve us. 

In practice today let’s let go of the song we have in our head already…the one we wake up to, go to sleep to and sing again and again. Let go of the knowing, the expectations we bring to our mat. Let’s soften around all of that expectation. Letting go, aparigraha-non-grasping of what we think we know, what we believe should happen in practice…the shapes we expect, the limitations we anticipate the opening we expect…and let’s be open to a new song arising. 

Let our awareness in practice today rest in a different vantage point. Let the page of sheet music be blank/fresh and clear. And while everything we are still shows up on our mats, in our practice…just for today, be open to the idea of finding something new to experience. Greet each shape as though it was the first time and see how the music can change, evolve and grow. See what happens.