{"id":8780,"date":"2025-01-17T16:09:39","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T21:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/?p=8780"},"modified":"2025-01-22T12:34:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T17:34:33","slug":"lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/lost\/","title":{"rendered":"on listening"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I returned to the cabin at dusk. As I was unlocking the door, I heard a panicked voice leaving a message on my answering machine (yes, an actual answering machine\u2014remember those?). My guest, who had set out for a hike with promises to turn back early, was lost. Very lost. Darkness falls quickly in the winter desert; the temperature can drop 20\u00b0 in an hour. She\u2019d gathered her altitude, longitude, and latitude from her technology, but her data points did not reveal the trail.<\/p>\n

So, I did what any experienced hiker would do: I commanded her to stop speaking and to listen carefully. Then, I read her a poem.<\/p>\n

It was the same poem I\u2019d received almost a decade earlier from a wise and seasoned outdoorswoman one evening when I had gotten turned around in the woods behind my home in Quebec. It begins:<\/p>\n

\u201cStand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here…
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers…\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time I\u2019d ascended 500 feet, running full throttle with my headlamp lighting up loose rocks, roots, and downed trees\u2014hazards for chronically sprained ankles\u2014we made contact again. She had located the elusive path shortly after our call and was now making her way down.<\/p>\n

Stand still. Listen.<\/p>\n

When we can\u2019t find our way, we try our best to figure out what to do. We look for solutions, consult, gather information. Do I turn left or right? Speak up or hold silence? Innovate or uphold tradition? Is it time to move on from this relationship or this job?<\/p>\n

Listening\u2014true listening\u2014is not an activity. It\u2019s not about listening to something, or even for something. It\u2019s not listening to the mental chatter or the wisdom of the body. Rather, it\u2019s about dropping into the primacy of experiencing, into the field of pure receptivity, free from egoic interference. It\u2019s resting in complete availability until the next step becomes perfectly clear.<\/p>\n

Listening. It\u2019s what I teach. It\u2019s what I practice. It\u2019s what I humbly learn and relearn daily through my own missteps and moments of distraction. When I fall into the habit of believing that “I” can figure it out, that “I” makes decisions, that “I” must find my way, the field narrows, and “I” ends up running around in circles.<\/p>\n

\u201cStand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Lost<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you<\/p>\n\n

Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,<\/p>\n\n

And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,<\/p>\n\n

Must ask permission to know it and be known.<\/p>\n\n

The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,<\/p>\n\n

I have made this place around you.<\/p>\n\n

If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.<\/p>\n\n

No two trees are the same to Raven.<\/p>\n\n

No two branches are the same to Wren.<\/p>\n\n

If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,<\/p>\n\n

You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows<\/p>\n\n

Where you are. You must let it find you.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0– David Wagoner<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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When she is not sharing nondual meditation practices, Kathleen Knipp is sometimes found or lost sauntering through the mountains of southeastern Arizona.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I returned to the cabin at dusk. As I was unlocking the door, I heard a panicked voice leaving a message on my answering machine (yes, an actual answering machine\u2014remember those?). My guest, who had set out for a hike with promises to turn back early, was lost. Very lost. Darkness falls quickly in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-blog-no-email"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8780"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8859,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8780\/revisions\/8859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pathlessyoga.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}