Let Them. And Come Back to Yourself.
Dharma Talk // A Salima Nova Series
Usually shared before a yoga class, a dharma talk is a moment of reflection before movement. An inner light.
There are moments, and you know them, when something enters your field. It’s not visible. It’s not tangible. But it’s there, like a cold draft slipping in under the door. You were fine. More or less. Doing what needed to be done. Trying to stay peaceful. And then the neighbor’s dog starts barking again. Same as every morning. As if your nervous system were a light switch, and that dog had its hand on it. Or maybe it’s your colleague. The one whose mouth always seems to be shaped like a complaint. He looks at you, and you feel something in him wants to pull you down. You don’t even know why. Maybe he doesn’t either. He lives in a kind of cold drizzle, and he doesn’t like seeing you in the sun. And you? You let it in. Not physically. But you let his mood, his projections, his agitation… in. And that’s where it starts to unravel.
You’re no longer in your own space. You’re in their world. You’re no longer in your calm. You’re in their chaos. And the truth is, it happens faster than we like to admit. So yes, there’s this idea. Very simple, maybe too simple for us to have come up with on our own. An idea Mel Robbins expressed in the clearest way: “Let them.” Let the dog bark. Let others complain, project, spiral into their dramas. Let people think what they want of you. Let them live whatever it is they need to live. And most of all, let yourself come back to you. Not as a retreat. Not as a rejection of the world. But as an act of inner sovereignty.
What you’re living is already enough. What you’re carrying is already deep. You don’t have to take on what spills over from someone else.
And it’s not indifference. It’s mental hygiene. It’s a form of yoga without posture or mat. The yoga of attention. The yoga of choice. You can’t control what others do, say, think, or project. But you can choose whether or not you want to live in it with them. So let them.
Then protect your field. Return to what nourishes you. Water what lifts you up. And begin again. Again. And again. Not to become perfect. Just to stay free.
Stay Stellar,
Salima
Usually shared before a yoga class, a dharma talk is a moment of reflection before movement. An inner light.