The chill is in the air, the winds are stirring and the short but brilliant display of the leaves has commenced.  Fall is upon us in New England, and I must admit that I sometimes have trouble following the tenants of impermanence and nonattachment, I eagerly await this time of year!  However, unlike true summer sun worshipers and winter loathers, I try to be present with the joy and wonder of my favorite season and then like a tree that embraces the cycles of nature let it go and embrace the next season.  I happened upon this poignant poem by Robert Frost that speaks of the beauty of fall, its impermeant nature and with a wider lens, speaks to how impermanence affects all things. 

“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down today.
Nothing gold can stay.”

Nature is such a wise teacher,  being present to the nuances of each season can help us to put into practice some of the teachings of Buddhism.  Yoga and Buddhist views align to provide tools to help us find peace within ourselves no matter what is arising and falling away around us.  The four noble truths of the Buddhist tradition speak simply and eloquently about the human’s natural tendency to grasp or strive for good feelings and experiences and to be averse to negative feelings and experiences.  

The Buddha stated it as it is:  The first noble truth is that life has suffering.  There is change, there is good, there is bad.  By learning to accept life’s inherent difficulties we feel less betrayed by life’s challenges.  This simple acceptance allows us to relate to the ups and downs of life more honestly and directly.  The second noble truth is we suffer due to our grasping or attachment; we tend to hold too tightly to those things we hold dear, to the past, to the good, while desperately trying to avoid and honestly accepting the not so good, such as the changing of the seasons and stormy weather.   The third truth is that we can end our suffering by accepting that things change.   Pain is inevitable but suffering, which is our reaction to our pain, is optional.  The fourth truth is that there is a way out of suffering, by changing ourselves.  Such a novel idea for the modern world that tends to blame everyone and everything around them for their suffering.  These Buddhist self-help tools compromise the noble eightfold path and are a beautiful way to take ownership of our wellbeing and to consciously and compassionately be in the world in a way that feels more organic, accountable and fluid.

This path includes right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right meditation.  Some consider three of these to be the most important upon which the others build; these are called the three cardinal points.  The first of which is right view which asks us to understand cause and effect and to fully understand the four noble truths.  Self-inquiry is important here.  We may not consciously cause our problems but we can observe and perhaps modify our attitude or reaction to the event, by taking this step we realize we decide whether we suffer or not. Wise effort implies that we must use sustained effort to overcome our habitual patterns of reacting, attachment and aversion.  We must continue to work to observe our patterns that lead to suffering and cultivate a certain amount of detachment.   Right mindfulness, asks up to observe our minds and bodies.  With heightened awareness we begin to see our patterns and learn to stay in the moment and perhaps think before we react.

Time on our yoga mat and time in nature can be a time to reinforce some of these concepts.  As we check in with our bodies and how they are feeling today and gentle move and connect with our breath we also can notice the workings of the mind.  Is there something that we are holding on to, perhaps even storing it in the body as muscular tension and simple notice it and choose to let it go.  If the tension remains, whether physical or emotional can we meet it with a sense of compassion and acceptance?   Like the leaves on the fall trees, they know when the time is to simply let go and drift away, to be free, to make time and space for new growth.

When looking at the Bible for some insight into impermanence I came across a verse in Isaiah that was referenced again in 1 Peter.  I appreciate how this happens frequently in the Bible where an Old Testament passage is referenced in the New Testament, perhaps a testament that there are some themes that reflect a sense of permanence in their wisdom.  Here is the passage from Isaiah All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.  The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.  Isiah 40:6-8.  All wisdom teachings teach of trying to become less enamored with the changing nature of the world and to identify more with the unchanging, just as this passage above from Isiah.  Rumi a Sufi mystic who lived in the 12^th century discusses impermanence particularly related to our emotions.

The Guest House

​This being human is a guest house. 

Every morning a new arrival,​

A joy, a depression, a meanness, 

some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all! 

Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house, empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably. 

He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

the dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

​Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

Ultimately, I believe what nature seeks to model for us is that making peace with reality and the changing nature of our human condition is the only way to harmony and inner peace.  I am not saying this is easy by any means, we all have conditioned habits, preferences and reactions that are often innately modeled from our culture and family of origin.  This is truth, but it is also true that we have free will and the ability to grow as individuals and as a society.  We grow by cultivating awareness and deep compassion for the self and for others. We also grow by observing our bodies and minds and recognizing all that is impermanent including ourselves, releasing the grip of our egos and ultimately remembering the place inside of ourselves that is more enduring.  The spirit endures, God endures, and the natural world evolves without resistance.  Without resistance nature models the unchanging, the spiritual world even in its evolving and renewal.

I leave you with a bit of wisdom from Pema Chodron, a teacher, author, Buddhist nun, and mother.  Pema says:  Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don’t struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality.  Also, often quoted from Pema Chodron is You are the sky, everything else it’s just the weather.  This takes us right back to our pondering about autumn.  We are this luminous awareness like the cloudless sky, but when clouds arise like the fluctuations of our minds, the leaves falling like are attachments and aversions and the wind blowing like the passing of time, we let it!  

​If this post has you feeling inspired to hop on your yoga mat, join me in this practice where I was still reflecting on impermanence.