I’ve been thinking about impermanence since we packed up our home, put our belongings in storage, moved to Michigan after 33 years in the DMV, and are now relying on the kindness of friends and family to help us as we wait to move into our new home. Just as our life on Wagner Lane wasn’t meant to be forever, neither is this transient phase we are in now. Being at the lake for the past month reminds me that nothing is here to stay. Things are always changing--the lake is calm and like glass one moment and choppy the next. It's sunny, and then I look away and the clouds have rolled in. On one day recently, it was 50 degrees, it was 80 degrees; the lake was calm, then rough; skies were blue, then a storm rolled through and brought high winds, dark clouds, thunder, and lightning. After the storm passed, the most beautiful rainbow was there to greet me, and then it, too, was gone.

The Buddha said that impermanence is the nature of the human condition. And that is a challenge when we tend to desire the predictable, the steady, the comfort of things remaining as they are. When we struggle to accept impermanence, we suffer.

We can look to our yoga practice to help us embrace impermanence with grace and acceptance. On our mats during practice, we are continuously entering poses, experiencing them, and leaving them. We move through vinyasas and into new poses, then we leave those too. It’s a dance of total impermanence.

Extending the lens a bit farther out, think of how our yoga practice changes over time. For me, when I first began practicing yoga asana consistently, I experienced tremendous growth over a relatively short period of time. I felt my body becoming more adept at poses, I learned to do some arm balances, stand on my head, and balance on one foot in various shapes. It was exciting to soak up the knowledge of my teachers and experience that type of learning. Now, my asana practice is less of an adventure and more of a quiet place of reflection. The arm balances I used to do have been replaced with more backbends, forward folds and twists. The breakthroughs I experience are smaller and deeper, driven more by self-study and reflection than by the voice of external teachers or the demands of the postures. I am a very different yoga practitioner and teacher now than I was 15 years ago, or even 1 year ago, and if I don’t accept that, I suffer and possibly yearn for what used to be. If I do accept it, I feel spacious, calm and grateful.

Shifting the lens off the yoga mat and into our lives, I like the way yoga teacher Judith Hanson Lasater explains the Hindu model of change throughout our lives:

In India, the home of yoga, there is a traditional Hindu social model that underscores the change we continuously experience. Called the Ashramas, or Stages of Life, it defines four distinct periods in life, during which people can and should do certain things. The first, brahmacharya (brahmic conduct), is the student stage, during which one learns about oneself and the world; the second, grihastha (householder), is the stage of family and societal obligations. The last two stages focus on renunciation. During the third, vanaprastha (forest dweller), one is freer to begin a contemplative life. And during stage four, samnyasa (renunciation), one goes deeper, surrendering all worldly things and living as a simple mendicant. The beauty of this model is its inherent acknowledgement of the impermanence of each stage of life. There is wisdom in this awareness—not just because our lives do obviously and unavoidably change but, more important, because when we accept this fact as truth, we suffer so much less.

If we can embrace the fact that change is inevitable, we can ride the waves with more joy and less worry. We can be more welcoming of the storms, knowing that after the storm comes the sun and sometimes even the rainbow. We can suffer less and live in the “now” of each moment, knowing that this “now” will be gone and another will take its place. So let’s explore impermanence with curiosity and wonder, let’s be grateful for change, let’s allow our breath to be a constant reminder of both the coming and going in every moment, and let’s open our hearts to all that the word has to teach us about how to live full and fearless lives.