I’ve been saving this very powerful video, but now seems like a good time to share it, and I do so at Maggie’s request.
This video is Maggie’s second ‘awakening story’ and a compelling one at that. Maggie is a surgeon and an earnest student of mine. She has done all the work and a lot of it—meditation, yoga postures, retreats, energetic work, breathwork, yogic, and Buddhist philosophy. If you consider yourself even a somewhat ‘serious’ student of mine, I hope you will watch this entire video from start to finish. It shows what is possible for us as human beings in terms of realization. Realization does not happen on a purely intellectual level but rewires our entire system emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually.
With the threat of COVID-19 upon us, I hear a lot of talk about death as if death is the worst thing that could happen to us. The truth is, no one on this planet knows what will happen after death. How do I know this? Because no one has entirely died and come back to tell us. If you believe in the resurrection, and I am not contesting its truth, then one person did, and if they spoke about it, there is no record of what they said. And no, I am not counting NDEs or ‘near-death experiences.’
Death and illness always have and will always be with us. The question for us is, what is our relationship with this part of life? Are we afraid of death? Do we try to deny it? Do we resist it? Or can we see that death and illness are a fundamental part of a whole life? Not a mistake that happens at the end of life. Do we understand that death is not the opposite of life, but the opposite of birth? Life has no opposite. Death is as much life as birth is. There cannot be birth without death.
So why should we be afraid? Because what happens after death is unknown? Well, the truth, if we wish to admit it to ourselves, is we live in the unknown. Yes, the truth is you don’t know if you will live to finish reading this commentary. The truth is you don’t know when you will die. The truth is you have no idea how the rest of your life will play out.
The truth can be scary, but if we want to live at one with reality, then we have no choice but to face the truth. No matter how much we try to control and influence outcomes, the truth is, we don’t control anything, and we don’t know what the result will be. Sometimes it may seem like we have everything under control, but this will be a temporary situation, I can guarantee you that. No one gets out of here alive, that is the truth.
Now, this is not meant to be bleak or dark. What you find on this path is that if you are willing to face that which you are most afraid of without resistance, that is where your salvation will be found. I know it doesn’t make any sense, and it’s not supposed to. It needs to be experienced in the depths of our practice and then in our daily lives. Then we find that there is nothing to be afraid of, not birth, not life, not death.
If you would like to see Maggie’s first awakening story or those of other Mahāpatha Yogis, please search for awakening stories they should all pop up.
Do you have an awakening story? Please consider sharing it with the Mahāpatha Yoga community. I have found they can be very inspirational as well as excellent teaching tools.
If you get something from this video and would like help support our community and my teaching, please consider either making a one-time donation to PayPal douglas@mahapathayoga.com or Venmo (Douglas-Johnson-65) or becoming a patron on this Patreon page.
Namaste!
-Douglas Johnson E-RYT 500, YACEP
