6/29/2019 0 Comments Muhammad Ali's Footprint“The same road that connects two souls together when stretched, becomes a path to God”…written by Muhammad Ali in the 1970’s. There is no doubt in my mind that Muhammad Ali was a yogi. He was connecting with something deep inside, and he was listening to it and paying attention to it, he was acting on it and living from it. He had faith in it and spoke from it. He brought this life forward…emanating it. A person can only do this when connected to his inner lifeforce, in alignment, and in relationship with all that is. His life was an expression of something deeply personal, and so many of us were inspired by his strength to bring this forward. If all of us knew about ourselves what Muhammad Ali knew about himself, what would the world be? The only thing that made him special was that he knew about the magic inside of him. Somehow he gained access to this, whether naturally, or via a few hard-knocked lessons. Regardless of how it came about, the only thing that made Ali stand out from the rest was his ability to behave from, and live life from, that place of knowing what he could be, and what he could bring to this world…and he brought it…full on! Leaving no one questioning. We don’t know how much Muhammad Ali may or may not have struggled privately with this, in the way all of us do, or whether it came to him naturally and with ease. My hunch is the former, as rarely does a person who makes this kind of impact, have it easy. Being connected deeply to oneself creates greater awareness of the inner conflict between life’s expectations and heartfelt desires…which often run at odds with each other. I highly doubt this came to Ali with ease, he was faced with some substantial obstacles, but he didn’t seem to fall into their traps. He seemed to know how (or learned how) to use them for his benefit; meaning, he knew that an obstacle could be used as a personal education toward betterment of, and freedom of self. Neither of these being considered acceptable aims for an African American man, born at that time in history. In Ali's early years, no one would have linked “African American man” with "education" and "freedom". It seems as if he took these upon himself as his training, his internal boxing ring. He didn’t see himself the same way anyone else saw him. Somehow he emancipated himself from the labels he was stamped with, and what came into form was the full power of love. Because what he brought forward was love in many ways. His life was beauty because it was art. I think this is why people listened to what he said, not because of the volume with which he said it. What stops us from being our fullest potential? Do we ask this or even require this of ourselves, or are we satisfied to sit back and admire someone else’s ability to do it? Have we stopped to consider how we might change the world (or even our little corner of it), and what wonderful things we might contribute, what beauty we might leave as our footprint? If we’re not willing to command forward this inner potential as he did, then the world continues on as it is, somewhat predictably. Someone once said to me, “we only have one kick at the can”…that’s ONE…so what will we do with that “one”? Even if we have to begin by wishing ourselves into such potential. If we do, it will naturally start to become us, because it’s who and what we are meant to be. Sure, we may not be as verbose about it or state it with such grandeur as Ali, but we would bring it into form, one way or another, and we would love it, and we would love ourselves (as he did himself)…because it would be our fullest, our grandest, our most free, because it stems from the intelligence of the heartspace. No one shares the unique stamp of our creative potential; so no one else can taint it. If we can develop the confidence to believe in our deepest selves no matter what, as well as the faith to allow its flow through us, then no matter what anyone else says or thinks about it, we can do it…we can achieve our aim, if it’s coming from that inspired space. We need to keep in mind how long Muhammad Ali worked at this, he decided and committed to it at the age of twelve, building the momentum into adulthood. If we think about the years and commitment of his practice, there is a lot of energy behind that! It didn’t just come to him easily like a gift handed to him. No, he brought his gift forward through the efforts of dedication and discipline, to self and to his heart. I would say some of the ingredients Ali may have used in his ongoing practice, were: faith, focus, commitment, unwavering discipline, momentum, follow through in action and in word, self-honesty, self-inquiry and self-mastery. All the power that creates has to tumble forward at some watershed moment…whatever that moment looks like within individual lives. A commitment to our heart is often feared only because it’s vulnerable, but nurturing that vulnerability turns it into great power. Even if only great power for oneself, it doesn’t necessarily need to be on the grand scale of Muhammad Ali…ultimately, the impact is the same. When we pay attention to what is said in the quote above, it’s multi-layered in its wisdom. This is my perception of the way Muhammad Ali communicated in so many ways, and that is being connected…it’s artistry, and it’s inspiring. Through the words that he said, the way that he said them, and how he demonstrated all of it, Ali was showing us not only the reward of being who we are, but also what it takes to be who we are, even in the face of all obstacle. He held that unwavering commitment to being who he was in his heart without compromise. No one else could tell him because no one else was him, which is the same for us all. There wasn’t ego behind this (maybe on the surface but not in truth) as more deeply, he seemed driven by truth of what we all are, and what it takes for each of us to stand up in the face of adversity. Ali gave us the gift of witnessing his internal boxing ring. He let us see that amongst all obstacle, maintaining and calling on faith steers us ever forward in the direction we're committed to. The outcome being more freedom of our souls than not. So no matter what your style of yoga practice, let your heart be stretched…if not toward another then toward something.--with love Letters In Yoga www.lettersinyoga.com
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2020
|