Last night, my cousin spontaneously took me out to a pub. She was joined by three of her friends. One of them started talking about her job — she’s a tour guide and travels all over the world. She said she’s had enough of living in hotels and constantly living out of a suitcase. She misses her own rituals, healthy eating, and yoga (she mentioned that her rooms are often so small there’s not even enough space to roll out a mat).

She did, however, appreciate that she works with people and gets to travel. In two months, she’s coming back to Poland and plans to live on her own — to slow down, find calm, and return to her daily practices. She said she’s tired of constantly repeating the pattern of taking on work that demands so much of her energy.

“Have you ever taken breaks between those jobs — to really slow down and take care of yourself?” I asked.

“I have,” she replied.

Those breaks, too, were stays abroad — workshops, retreats, places of silence.

That conversation deeply reminded me how the mind struggles to accept what is happening here and now — how strongly it believes that something shouldn’t be happening. Yet those unwanted moments and repetitive patterns in our lives are precisely the opportunities to pause within and feel… ourselves.

Everything that happens in our life is a reflection of the energies we hold inside. And in order to transform those energies, we must first give them our attention.

We don’t need to wait for ‘perfect conditions’ — because the perfect conditions are exactly the ones we are in right now. And that’s one of the greatest challenges for our protective personality – to recognize that what is here and now is already enough.

It keeps saying: “I need this, that, and that too, before I can finally relax.”
“When the children grow up, when I pass that exam, get that job, finish that project, ______ (fill in the blank) — then I’ll rest.”

And the years pass, yet rest never truly comes, because there’s always something else to do before we allow ourselves to feel complete.
A disconnected mind will never feel whole — not until we stop. Inside.

We already have with us the three most powerful tools, and they cost nothing. Everyone has them.
We have the body, the breath, and the mind.

Each of us can pause within the body (focus the mind there) and begin to breathe slowly into the belly.
That’s all — and yet it’s everything.

The disconnected mind will resist this idea, frustrated that something so simple could actually help.
Our task is to remind it that it is not in charge — its only purpose is to observe.

The next morning, while I was on the mat in fire log pose, I noticed that I was trying to push myself to bring my upper body closer to the ground. I stopped and realised that I didn’t have to.

“Right here, exactly where I am in this pose, is where I’m meant to be,” I told myself.

I began to breathe through the area of discomfort and felt my body start to soften with a warm sensation. And although I didn’t move significantly closer to the ground, I felt a deep sense of unity with myself – with the intensity of pain, and with the permission to let it be. It was a very sacred moment.