Experience Nutrition: Yoga Reflection: Full Cup, Empty Cup
By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition Group, LLC. Nutrition and food expert, author and speaker. Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Holistic Nutrition and Whole Food Cooking Instructor at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.
Yoga Reflection: Full Cup, Empty Cup
As part of my Yoga Teacher Training journey, this morning I gave myself a simple, reflective private yoga practice with my new Tibetan Bowl, Sun Salutations, a few standing poses (Mountain, Warrior II and Triangle), and the following message from “365 Yoga” by Julie Rappaport.
I invite you to sit quietly, center, perhaps, listening quietly to your own breath and then read this beautiful story.
A popular Zen story tells of a disciple who embarks on a long journey in search of a master teacher. When the teacher finally appears, the student becomes excited and begins asking many questions hoping to gain wisdom. Eager to have her questions answered, the student persists but the teacher refuses to answer directly. Instead she requests that the student pour a cup of tea. The teacher tells the student to keep pouring until instructed to stop. The student pours. The master says nothing. The cup begins to overflow, and still the master remains silent. Upset, the student exclaims:
“Master, look at this tea cup! It is full and overflowing!”
The master replies: “Yes. Just as your mind is already full. None of this teaching will be of benefit until you empty your cup.”
The disciple learned the first lesson of spiritual teaching: to be empty of preconceptions and receptive to new knowledge.
Namaste.