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" The Witness"
Out beyond all ideas of right doing
and wrong doing,
there is a field.
I'll meet you there. ~ Rumi
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I updated my Witness card. I find the idea of the Witness to be extremely intriguing. In my yoga classes I introduce this concept quite frequently. It's a tough concept to grasp because of course, the moment you grasp it, it's gone. It's one of those things that makes others think you're nuts when you start talking about it. "Witness, what the heck? I am Me, there's no witness!"
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"Then who's the One watching the breath?"
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When we use the Witness in SoulCollage it's very powerful. At the facilitator's training we each got a chance to be the four corners of facilitating; Witness, Reader, Facilitator, Scribe. While each part was fascinating, I found Witness to be the most powerful. Watching the process without forming opinions, judgements or feeling any need to interact or "perform" was amazing. When the reading was over, the insights the Witness had were so telling that sometimes just a single word from them put the whole reading in perspective.
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There is comfort to be found in witnessing and in being witnessed. Sort of like the ancestor's memories, keeping watch, being able to pass on. Words like unbiased, accepting, not trying to change anything, experiencing, come to mind. How many times do you experience something without trying to change it? Or label it? Have you ever looked at a tree without categorizing or naming it? What about an animal? Or a person?
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This is a powerful meditation. Try it. Allow yourself to witness a tree without naming it. Staying with it and watching without trying to change that moment by going to the past or future. What is the tree in this moment? What are you in this moment? Silently witnessing. The breath comes in. The breath comes out. No need to analyze. It will do it of it's own accord. Most things will if we just allow it.
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Relax. Breathe. Feel. Allow. Watch (Witness).
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from Stephen Cope's Wisdom of Yoga
and Yolinna's Yoga Wall
