The Obstacles is the Path by Roshi June Tanoue

"The obstacle is the path"

~Roshi Robert Joshin Althouse

Autumn colors of gold and yellow, flecked with red. A brightly shining sun. Schiller Park South exuded a gentle warmth of beauty as my husband and I were walking the dirt path. As we walked, we came upon a number of logs and branches across the path.

“The obstacle is the path,” Joshin said matter-of-factly as we stepped over branches, sometimes using our hands to clamber over a few of the larger logs. He didn’t stop and say, “Oh, I wish this path was clearer” or “Why doesn’t someone cut this log away and clear the path?” We simply did what we needed to do - walk over them.

Can we do this with difficulties or obstacles that arise in our lives? Perhaps a troubling thought keeps turning around and around in our mind. Or we encounter a situation that we don’t quite know how to handle. In my life, there have been moments in the last few months where I felt quite overwhelmed.

My meditation practice of mindfulness has saved me time and time again. When my mind is spinning about, my practice helps me to pause, breathe, notice what’s real, let go, and continue. Regularity of practice builds resilience.

Ilya Prigogine, the Belgian Nobel Laureate in Chemistry said, “We grow in direct proportion to the amount of chaos we can sustain and dissipate.” The overwhelm encountered in the past few months provided me with an opportunity to practice and grow.

He also said, “When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.”  It’s so important to keep ourselves well and healthy in body, mind and spirit. We are strengthened in that effort by being part of a halau or sangha of practitioners, practicing together and being islands of coherence.

Obstacles can be our best teachers if we have the courage to be open and breathe with meet them.

Happy Native American Heritage Month!

Malama pono (take good care of body, mind, heart),

Kumu/Roshi June Kaililani Tanoue