Spanda

The older I get, the more I see that it’s all kind of the same. There are certain Basic Underlying Truths, or BUTs in life that we’d all do well to be aware of.

For example most religions have the same basic tenets. And being nice will generally be nicer than being not nice. The sun always rises, except on that one day when it won’t for you. The Golden Rule is a thing which can and should be applied liberally, exactly like a salve. The queen and the pawn go back in the same box.

Whatever expanded will contract again.

And whatever contracts, can expand.

The older I get, the more I see that it’s our job as Quality Humans to understand this elasticity about life and to dance with it.

Spanda is a Sanskrit word, and it just means “to move a little”.

Another take on it is “the sacred tremor of the heart” which really means that I just lost half of you.

Come back.

It’s just expansion and contraction.

It’s just an expression.

It’s just life, dancing.

Spanda is your breath. Your muscles stretching and returning to normal. The flash of anger followed by the calm. It’s ecstatic dance and it’s the quietest meditation. It’s the beginning of a relationship and also the end. It’s a hug. It’s also a slap.

It’s not something I think about a lot, but when I do, I realize it’s everywhere and it kinda takes my breath away.

And that too, is spanda. The hollowing out.

Spanda is the expansion and contraction of the entire universe. From the farthest reaches of a black hole… to the tiny pulse in your very own chest… it’s part of that “everything’s connected” bit. We’re all expanding, contracting, breathing, moving and interacting. Yin-ing and yang-ing. Zigging and zagging.

The events of today have taken the air out of me and I’m in a state of contraction. But for however much today may suck the life out of me, I know tomorrow can expand me by that much.

And it will.

I know it will, because I’ve seen it a thousand times.

We all have.

We might not have a word for it, but we know it.

That’s spanda.

It’s life dancing.

Just breathe with it.

Tomorrow’s a new day.

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