MEDITATION
EMBRACING
The Shaking World
W
hen I used to teach a lot of dance, I ‘invented’ a technique of shaking all parts of the
body in a rhythmic and progressive fashion that I called a “Shake-a-diddy”. Later I
learned that this was part of the esoteric practices of the Yogas of Naropa. Then I learned
that it was also part of Qigong. So much for the creation of anything new!
Whether we are shaking up ourselves physically to get the kinks and poisons out or whether
we are living in a situation that shakes things up psychologically, we need this dynamic to
become a part of our spiritual growth. Without it, things move into a stasis and then, after
a time, into a kind of deadened or fixed response to life.
In Vajrayana Buddhism, we are taught to embrace the shaking world, to see the possibilities of growth inherent in such times. We are even thought to give thanks to our enemies,