Getting present to the amazing experience of this moment

The eclipse from Progressive Field, taken by Tom Ondrey

Wow. Wow. Wow.

The birds got quiet. A wave of cool air washed by me as it got dark. At 3:16 pm in the afternoon. Five minutes later, life was back to normal.

Our minds tend to anticipate how something will happen and is taken aback when that’s not how it goes. There’s been so much hype about the solar eclipse that, I’ll admit, I was a bit dismissive about it. But that wave of change outside that happened so fast – and so viscerally in my body – surprised me. Just like when my father passed at home in 1990 and my mother and siblings were quiet and contained and I – the social worker – was sobbing uncontrollably. Not what I expected at all.

The part of us that predicts how we’ll feel is the same part of us that makes assumptions about other people: our ego. In yoga, our goal is, quite literally, to slay our ego. And an event like this month’s solar eclipse provides the felt experience that life, space, energy, is SO MUCH BIGGER than our small minds can fathom, i.e., we are not the center of the world. We are a part of this big, gorgeous, terrifying experience and, as Margaret Mead said:

“Just remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.”

We are unique just like this moment is unique. And then it’s gone, just like the eclipse. It passed by so quickly, I almost thought that I’d imagined it. 

​Our lives can be like that, too. One moment we’re here and then “poof” – the next minute we’re gone, or our loved ones are gone. Our minds swirl around anticipating, comparing, rationalizing, and often, in the case of loss, wondering how we could have changed the outcome of events. But we can’t. And if we lean into our practice, we can get present to the amazing experience of this moment. And then the next moment. Because that’s all we have. With the solar eclipse, we got a glimpse into that consciousness. Let’s keep it going.