“Like many Japanese words, komorebi has no single word that means the same in English, and yet it is a phenomena that probably everyone enjoys, anywhere in the world, if they have the chance. (…) In clumsy English, komorebi can be translated as ‘scattered filtered sunlight light shining through trees.’ In Japanese it is written using three Kanji characters: 木 trees; 漏れleaking-through or escape; and light or sun denoted by 日,” states Graham Thomas – author, photographer and film producer.

I found that in some attempts to convey the komorebi meaning in English, the phrase ”dappled sunlight” was used. To me both these translations work well. Like the komorebi concept itself, they offer the welcomed and gentle presence of wondrous light, somehow protecting us from almost offensive intrusion of clear-cut and directly focused illumination. And thus giving us safe space to grow and learn. I find that the lessons learned from Let It Go Yoga practice house the same promising potential of gentle light – like the welcomed sun kisses that we see through the trees and leaves – komorebi. Let It Go Yoga practice delivers those gentle, kind lessons, with no pressure and no stark, unbearable and unforgiving light that (seemingly) focuses on our shortcomings (or on our imagined shortcomings) and problems. 

Right now though, we do live in strange and tumultuous times, filled with real problems. It is a  brilliant reason (my apologies to all “ cheap pun haters”, I could not help it!)  to have a clear focus and shine some bright, stark, well focused light on things/events/phenomena that need to be looked at, examined, and, hopefully, also changed/solved. However, being discouraged by everyday events around us and in the world in general we might start feeling like we don’t have the capacity to grow and change, and love, and solve, as no matter what we try or do, the world is getting stranger and more foreign to us. And that can be truly frightening! So, I combat that by choosing to find “my so-called komorebi moments” to bring me back to being grounded, courageous and brave. Those moments also bring beauty and magic, and peace. I have started looking for those moments in my “regular” everyday life – in my yoga practice, in my meditation practice, my work, my walks with friends, my cooking, my random and not so random thoughts, musings, doings and even in my house cleaning and gardening efforts. Noticing komorebi fills me with smiles first of all. Inside out and outside in. Dappled light! It shelters me! And brings immense gratitude just for being alive. (Plus… the word itself really sounds like an exotic dessert! It even feels yummy to say it!)

I am talking here about the light that caresses your senses and thoughts, and allows the world to get a tad gentler. And oh, how we all could use that these days! Fairies and magic live in those moments and places of komorebi. The reality lives there as well! It is especially clear when we are enveloped in that otherworldly feeling, no, that’s wrong, in the completely worldly feeling of luminous beauty and boundless gratitude for the sunlight that reaches us through the leaves of the trees, through the thickets of our thoughts and emotions, through the curtains and shades of our rooms…  and through our thoughts, conversations, and our yoga practice.

It reaches us everywhere. 

Just notice.  Pause.  Allow. And breathe. 

There it is – komorebi.

 

Written by Indra Strong, Certified Let It Go Yoga teacher. Photo Credit: Indra Strong.

 

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