This Too Shall Pass {A Practice for You}

This too shall pass.

In a recent session with a client we were talking about some discomfort that she has been having in her low back - a persistent nagging that she has been feeling and having a hard time ignoring. I suggested that this sensation may actually be a message from her body. How loudly would it need to get for her to actually stop and listen to get the message?

As she listened to her body, she could hear that her body needed her to stop overextending herself in her life. Beyond our movement practice and focus on her physical alignment in our session, she sensed she needed to be making adjustments in her way of being in her everyday.

I shared with her a tool that I wish to also share with you. It’s the concept of “This too shall pass.”

What it means is this:

When you take a moment to be present in your body, as your awareness deepens you can suddenly feel that there is so much more going on within you, you can feel much more sensation, and there is much more than the pain point that you had been feeling the loudest.

Try it now. For a few breaths, turn your focus inwards, feel where you feel sensations inside of yourself. See if you can feel beyond an area of your body that you are usually aware of. Feel the inside of your chest, your stomach, your hands.

Can you feel how the sensations are passing and shifting within you? Just like the weather passes through the clear sky?

If you can speak to yourself the truth, “This too shall pass,”it allows you to be open and less gripping onto what you are experiencing. As you embrace that this too shall pass, ask your body what would be most supportive to you right now.

“This too shall pass” is a great practice for embracing the difficult stuff in your heart, body, and mind, just as much as embracing the sweet stuff. While the tough stuff doesn’t last forever, neither does the great stuff, but we can be present with both and gain so much from that experience of being present.

May it help you move through challenges and be uplifted, as well as hold joys and positive experiences close to you. Allow yourself to take in both - be with yourself in discomfort, and fully receive joy. This is a pathway to hearing more of the wisdom of your body and experiencing more of the fullness of your life.