Hello hello Reader ,

Happy first day of spring!

I enjoy winter, I really do. But this morning, as I stepped outside for my walk, a red-breasted robin was singing high up in the tree, and I have to say, I felt genuinely grateful for the signs of a new season. Spring doesn't always look the way we expect it to, and there is actually snow in the forecast here today, which made me laugh.

Also, on my walks this week, I've noticed how the tree tips are starting to look fuzzy and new growth is poking through. Pussy willows on the magnolia, little reddish brown buds on what I think is a shrub or small tree, and in my garden, a tiny green shoot that I'm really hoping is the first hint of my daffodils coming up.

It reminded me of the ancient quote by philosopher Lao Tzu, "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

The growth we see starting to appear in Spring has had the quiet and invisible support of undergrowth that happens unnoticed long before anything shows up on the outside. The trees and animals don't wait for perfect conditions. They just go with the flow and do their thing.

This month inside the AUM@home community, we've spent a lot of time learning and integrating the support of what I lovingly call the under carriage, the pelvic floor and the deeper core muscles that work quietly beneath everything else. Unlike the abs you might eventually see after dedicated training, these inner structures are completely hidden. Nobody sees them, and most of us never think about them until something stops working the way it should.

And yet they are the foundation of everything.

Honestly, showing up for that kind of invisible work takes a certain kind of faith. You can't always feel it working. You won't see it in the mirror. Some days you'll wonder if any of it is doing anything at all. I think that's true on the mat and it's true in life. The willingness to keep going anyway, quietly, steadily, without waiting for proof that it's working, that's where the real growth happens.

Growth is not the destination. Growth is what happens when you keep going.

And I'll be honest, I'm still learning to trust that myself. Not just in my personal life and practice, but in this one too. Building this community, showing up to teach week after week, getting back to writing and sharing these teachings in an online form, some days it feels like I'm just quietly planting seeds with no idea what's going to grow. But I keep going anyway. Because I believe in the work, and I believe in process. And I'm doing what I can to show up meaningfully for myself, and for you.

Here's to the season of planting seeds and watching the process unfold.

xoM