does everything change?

It seems like my external world is a changing all the time. Sometimes the constant change leaves me feeling a bit crazy.


As you may know, Vince and I both have started new daytime jobs. We had been working for the same agency for the past twelve years, together. Last Wednesday, we both started our new positions, apart. On the surface, it looks like everything changes, but does it?

On Monday, we cleaned out our old desks and on Thursday, I emptied those contents into the new office space. I ran across a file (in one of the zillions of file boxes) labeled poems. It hasn’t been uncommon for me to use poems or stories with clients and students as a way to hold up a mirror, to invite them into a quiet place that might reflect their own wisdom. I opened the file to find a slim stack of poems, some on scratch paper that I have somehow found relevant to either myself or to a client. As I was reading them, I ran across a poem from college. The poem was written by someone in the sorority which I belonged. The poem was read at every sentimental ceremony I can recall: graduation, pledge night, activation night, the announcement of someone getting pinned, engaged, etc. As I started to read the poem, I giggled at the references to fraternity parties, late night study sessions (I can’t remember many of those), fraternity parties, microwave popcorn, fraternity parties and the development of new friendships. Then, I was stopped in my tracks with this line:

“…and if you are very smart or very lucky, you learn that no matter how big or messy the world becomes, that what is precious and what is permanent is always the same.”

When I was in college, I don’t think I ever stopped to reflect on the power of those words. Now, those words perfectly describe the main reason yoga practice is part of my life.

What is precious and what is permanent is always the same. Stop for a second, memorize this line, close your eyes and repeat it to yourself….what is precious and permanent is always the same….what is precious and permanent is always the same….what is precious and permanent is always the same.

Could it be that who we are at our core never changes? That which is precious and permanent is always the same. We know we can count on change….change in our checkbook balance, change in where we live, work and play, change in our relationships, change in how we feel about this and that, change in seasons, change in the size of our jeans, change when our kids grow up, change when people we love die, change when children are born, change in the yoga schedule, change of plans, change in priorities, change of mind, change in the cost of our cell phone, change in our asana practice. At first glance, change is everywhere!

If we are rushing around, holding our breath, gossiping about our neighbors and caught up in the drama of daily life, it might be that we will forget there is something that never changes, something that is unwavering. We are reminded of this in the Bhagavad Gita (the ancient Indian poem- a story of two royal families opposing one another). In the translation by Stephen Mitchell:

“The presence that pervades the universe is imperishable, unchanging, beyond both is and is not: how could it ever vanish?

These bodies come to an end; but that vast embodied Self is ageless, fathomless, eternal…”


No matter how big and messy the world becomes, what is precious and what is permanent is always the same. The presence that pervades the universe never changes. We can count on external change and we can count on presence that pervades the universe to never change. This unwavering presence (whatever you choose to call it-God, Universe, Goddess, Presence Awareness) is who we are. Self with a capital “S”. Beyond the self with a small “S”. Beyond the drama that accompanies this self with a small “s”, beyond the desires, beyond the aversions and attachments, beyond the vascillating waves of the mind, there is something that is still. Something that is steady, reliable and encompassing, containing everything.

This unwavering, unchangeable presence is what makes us all the same. Think back to a time when you were lying in savasana. Your breath was deep in the belly, maybe there was the sensation of the body being both grounded and floating, there could have been a deep sense of gratefulness for being alive, a sense of connection to everyone in the room, to the spider that hangs out in the corner of the studio and to the boss you were just cussing about. Suddenly, there is a clear awareness of stillness. A recognition that your-self with a small “s” isn’t in control and doesn’t need to be. A recognition that somehow everything will turn out the way it needs to turn out. A recognition that there are external changes and there is something that doesn’t change that is keeping us all afloat.

Can you possibly think of a better reason to get on the mat?



Check out a copy of the Bhagavad Gita-there are lot’s of translations. I have recently been enjoying
Bhagavad Gita
A New Translation
Stephen Mitchell