Yoga and the Art of Being “Comfortable with Uncertainty”

The brave men and women who stood up to the police on this night and the days following stared uncertainty in the eyes and chose to take action anyway. Who knew what a revolution their standing up for what is right would lead to?

Things are quickly changing for many of us in the U.S. at this time of the nearing-the-end-of-the-pandemic period. We have all experienced so much uncertainty over the past 16 months. And for those of us who have survived, we can undoubtedly say that we’ve been battered, yet are stronger and more resilient than we were before.

Uncertainty is a theme I’ve touched on often in my past yoga e-Letters – probably because it’s an enduring theme for our entire lifetime – but I felt it to be especially relevant at this particular period in time.

Pema Chodron encourages us to be “Comfortable with Uncertainty” in her bookand chapter with the same title. She writes:

Those who train wholeheartedly in awakening bodhichitta – noble or awakened heart -- are called bodhisattvas or warriors—not warriors who kill but warriors of nonaggression who hear the cries of the world. … A warrior accepts the we can never know what will happen to us next. We can try to control the uncontrollable by looking for security and predictability, always hoping to be comfortable and safe. But the truth is that we can never avoid uncertainty. This not-knowing is part of the adventure. It’s also what makes us afraid.

Likely, most of us didn’t willingly sign up for “warrior training” at the beginning of the pandemic, but we’ve all been forced, in one way or another, to become warriors during the past 16 months, whether we liked it or not. For me, it meant keeping my bubble very small and relying on daily yoga and meditation in my (small-ish) Manhattan studio apartment to keep me sane. For me, meditation has been a way to embrace life as it is, with all of its beautiful moments and with its pock-marks too. Pema writes:

If we find ourselves in doubt that we’re up to being a warrior-in-training, we can contemplate this question: “Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly [and therefore embrace uncertainty], or do I choose to live and die in fear [running away from uncertainty]?

Meditation is one of the main tools of the bodhisattvas or warriors in Buddhist tradition. It can help us to embrace uncertainty and live with less fear. For sure, whether we signed up for warrior-training or not, during these past 16 months we’ve all been forced to find ways to cope and discover the resilience we didn’t know existed with us. And whether or not you actually embraced formal meditation practices over these months, undoubtedly life created opportunities for you to pause, embrace stillness, and feel your breath more often than before. Perhaps most importantly, we’ve all been forced, whether we liked it or not, to choose to relate to life directly.

For those of you who have embraced a formal meditation practice, know that it has had benefits for the whole planet, as this passage from whenonepercent.org states:

When just one percent of a community spends time in prayer and meditation, the whole community moves toward peace. Scientific studies record as much as an 80% decrease in violence within that community. With so much uncertainty in the world, One % of us committing to a daily meditation practice can make a significant difference.

With statistics showing that violent crime is rising across our country right now, please know that any kind of meditation practice you can undertake can make a difference and help alleviate the situation. For sure, the world could very much benefit from the bodhisattvas or warriors Pema speaks of above: not warriors who kill but warriors of nonaggression who hear the cries of the world.

Pema reminds us that whatever we are feeling right now, we are not alone:

This anxiety or queasiness in the face of impermanence isn’t something that afflicts just a few of us; it’s an all-pervasive state that human beings share. But rather than being disheartened by the ambiguity, the uncertainty of life, what if we accepted it and relaxed into it? What if we said, “Yes, this is the way it is; this is what it means to be human,” and decided to sit down and enjoy the ride?

I don’t know if you necessarily enjoyed the ride of these past 16 months, but for sure it has brought you to a greater understanding of what it means to be human. As alone as we’ve all felt, we can take comfort in knowing that we have not been alone in our feelings. It helps to remember in our moments of anxiety, that all humans across the planet experience these same feelings at some point or another.

In the end, we can always be encouraged by this quote from Rumi: 

What strikes the oyster, does not damage the pearl.

We’ve all been struck in so many unknown and untold ways these past 16 months. Hopefully, we can exit with our individual and collective pearls shining brighter. Your yoga and meditation practices can be armors you can use to help build a more resilient shell, and not only keep your pearl from getting damaged but also making it shine so brilliantly that you help light the whole world and all its magnificent beings.

May you be happy, …
May you be healthy, …
May you be comfortable with uncertainty, … 
May you be part of the 1%, …
May you train as a warrior, …
May your pearl light up the world, … 
For the benefit of ALL beings everywhere. 

Aloha, with Metta,
Paul Keoni Chun

My husband and I had a visitor in our front yard. For all creatures who live out in the wild, each days is filled with the uncertainty that comes with constantly having to forage for their next meal. Hopefully we didn't upset Nature's delicate balance too much by giving this little one a helping hand.