In yoga, there’s a pervasive element of uncertainty. I know Rex talked with you about this a few weeks ago, but it just keeps coming up. I suppose, like many things, we have to consider this concept through different lenses to come to some greater understanding.

Rather than resist the call to talk about uncertainty, I figured I may as well hop on the inner tube and float down that lazy river again. Care to join me?

The unknown shows up in practice every day

To show up for our practice is to be met with uncertainty. From day to day, we’re never sure where our greatest challenges will be. One day it might be an unbridled enthusiasm that causes us to ignore feedback from our bodies or minds. Another day, it might be stiff joints or that argument you had a few years ago.

After so many years, I still catch myself saying things like, I could do that last Wednesday. Why not today? I could sit like Buddha yesterday, but now I’m clawing up the walls.

When we use our practice to check in, sometimes that dialogue with ourselves diminishes the uncertainty. At other points, uncertainty pulls up a chair and settles in for a cup of green tea. We learn to meet ourselves exactly where we are. We learn to keep going whether or not uncertainty exists.

By challenging us, I think uncertainty has the potential to bring out the very best in us.

Still we rise

Last week, we commemorated the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. That day, the uncertainty hung over our entire country like the dense smoke and ash hanging over Manhattan.

I won’t recount to you the horrors. Most of you remember it all too well. I do want to remind you of the excellence we all witnessed while we collectively grappled with this manifestation of the unknown.

First responders ran toward the disaster in spite of every bit of survival instinct telling them to move in the other direction. Average people from all walks of life helped each other escape. Nineteen men made horrible choices that created suffering and spawned fear and destruction. In the face of their actions, thousands of everyday people rose up and carried a mantle they never sought to carry. We’ll never hear about most of these examples of excellence. So often, the good work happens quietly.

And then the boats came

Like the majority of people in the US, my eyes were fixed on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. It wasn’t until this year that I learned of a story of awesomeness (and I use this word in the truest sense of something eliciting awe) that unfolded in the waters off Manhattan Island.

When the attacks happened, captains of every sort of civilian watercraft saw the danger and sprang into action. They pointed their vessels toward the city with the intention of getting people to safety. At the time, there was little information about what was going on. All they knew was that something bad was happening, and they had the skills and resources to help others.

Then, the Coast Guard put out a call asking for more boats. The response was overwhelming. A rescue operation that outstripped the massive evacuation at Dunkirk in both its speed and size was underway. What happened on 9/11 in the water became the largest evacuation by sea in history. I’m not just talking about US history either. I mean world history. In under 9 hours, this fleet took half a million people out of harm’s way.

These were not people in Day-Glo spandex with superhuman powers facing off against comic book villains. (They also weren't people in Day-Glo spandex doing elaborate backbends and arm balances.) I love a good superhero, but they pale in comparison to real human heroes. The people who took action represented the best in all of us.

Note: If you want to hear from some of the captains that carried people out of the city, here’s a video. It’s ~12 minutes long, and I think it’s well worth the time.

Everything you need is within you

I’ve had many conversations with my yoga teachers over the years, and “Everything you need is already within you,” is a common refrain. I usually nod and smile, but sometimes it’s hard for me to believe that there is some well of knowledge and right action in the core of my guts that I can tap into. We’re taught so often that there’s a deficit within us that the counternarrative feels like it can’t be true.

The regular people who meet uncertainty with innate greatness show us how wrong this focus on deficit is. After learning about the rescue operation on 9/11, I wondered what I would do if I were placed in the same position. Could I move toward the danger? Would my practice of trying to reduce suffering actually cut the mustard when tested?

Beyond the known

I don’t know what I would do, but like most of us, I’d like to think I would do the right thing. What gives me hope is my belief in my fellow human beings. I know there’s a hero in all of you, and my conviction here is unflagging. I’ve seen this play out too many times in too many circumstances to believe otherwise.

Most of the time, the uncertainty we face won't exist on the scale of something like 9/11. Most of what we'll encounter will seem small or extremely personal. Our expressions of human excellence may appear minuscule as we carry them out, but they can mean the world to someone else.

Reflection is so much a part of my practice these days, and I encourage you to dive into this topic on your own. What arises for you when you learn about people meeting the moment? What happens to you when you face uncertainty? You might notice some stumbles here and there because you're operating without a manual (just like the rest of us), but I'll wager that on reflection, you might see at least a hint of this awesomeness within yourself.

May you never be placed in extreme circumstances that reveal your capacity for awesomeness in uncertainty. May you always know that capacity exists.