Spanda

I've been teaching about spanda this week in classes and really appreciating the different angles that keep coming up for me about this topic. Spanda means vibration or pulsation and it refers to the constant contraction and expansion of the Supreme Consciousness in everything and everyone. So everything at its core is pulsing, whether we notice it or not. Expansion and contraction are part of nature, like the rhythm of our breath, the cycles of the moon and the cycles of each day and each year. We can't have contraction without expansion and vice versa.

I'm finding this especially helpful right now, as I've just come through a difficult time and I now have a couple of friends who are in a dark time. Even that expression, "dark time" connotes that it is a period of contraction that will end, and will be followed by expansion again. Often the trickiest thing for us is to remember this when we're in the darkness. We tend to feel shrouded in our darkness, sometimes lost in it and often can't see past it into the light. This is what friends are for. They remind us of spanda, that everything is pulsing and that we will eventually make our way back to the other side, the light.

I think it's also helpful to remember this when we're already in the light. We tend to get attached to it and forget that even the brightest times come to an end. Pulsation is inevitable so the practice is to learn how to ride the waves of the pulse without getting attached to either side, dark or light, contraction or expansion. Ultimately, we just embrace it all and see it all as a powerful learning opportunity on our adventure of life.

See you on the waves!