Śunya: Dissolution

This weekend we got a proper snow day in New York City. I decided to go for a walk as the snow began to fall lightly. I enjoy doing this because there is always a hush that seems to settle over everything. I can hear the powdery whisper my feet make as I step into the snow. All the hustle and bustle has disappeared from the streets, and I can listen to sounds like this resonating in stillness.

Just as the absence of activity makes stillness available, dissolution unfolds as the unwinding of a structure on the way to śunya—empty openness. It is not something we impose, but something that happens when effort softens. Śunya is what remains when nothing is held.

As a way to turn inward and return to our center, we will be practicing forward bends and twists this week. As usual, we will practice dissolution—this letting go—as a pathway to śunya.

Hope you had a great snow weekend.

Breathe easy,

Blessings,

Jorge Nihāl