Walking on water

 

 

Words should be judiciously spoken. Otherwise, the words will hurt till the end of life more so than actions.

 

(Lightness in) udana vayu  (throat, chest) makes one levitate. It uplifts. Those who have complete control of udana can walk over water.

BKS Iyengar, Core of the Yoga Sutras (III.25)

 

The words we speak matter in the world.  We remember people by how their words make us feel. Speaking with kindness is no small matter.  It takes a masterful spiritual practice to speak with words that cultivate peace rather than sow pain. The knee jerk reaction when someone has harmed us is to harm back with harsh words.  But with practice, self-reflection, and humility we little by little begin to learn how this does not take away the pain caused by another’s words or actions.  It pulls us into the chaos of ignorant actions without offering a balm to our broken hearts which comes from the inner wellspring of compassion and tenderness.

 

We hone this practice of peaceful speaking by building up a capacity to hold discomfort, unease, fear, or rage and to pause and reflect before we speak especially in difficult or painful situations.

 

Overtime, we may come to feel that there is less and less that we need to say.  There is less urgency to be right since the cost of being right often leads to pain. But moreso, what is right seems more complex and nuanced.  We are more inclined to listen and see things from other angles and perspectives.  We understand how difficult it is to communicate well and how hard it is to speak without causing harm so we give others more slack.

 

It becomes less important to be known and understood because we realize how impossible it is to fully know ourselves let alone another.  We have less to say, less to prove. What we long for most is to be known by God which is to say the deepest parts of ourselves. And when we remember this silence is effortless as is walking on water.