we shape the clay into a pot...

Aparigraha, or non horarding, is the art of appreciating emptiness in ones life, but before we can learn to appreciate emptiness, we have to learn to let go. On the yoga mat we learn practice aparigraha by letting go of our expectations and letting go of the concerns of the day. Earlier today I was comparing two different yoga classes I took last week and wondered why one was so much more satisfying than the other. I quickly  realized it had nothing to do with the teacher or the sequence or the poses... it was me. 

The class I found more fulfilling was the one in which I had surrendered more deeply, not comparing my flexibility with more advanced students, with no thought of how it should be, no repeated clock checks, just childlike compliance and present and relaxed in every breath and moment. I had allowed the class to be fulfilling simply by letting go.  Aparigraha reminds us to never hold on, and letting go is the cultivation of emptiness in our lives. 

We shape the clay into a pot, but its the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. - lao-tzu

the empty ruins of Angkor Wat, my trip to Cambodia this summer