‘It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not.’

-Thich Naht Hanh

One of my most favorite Mexican holidays is ‘El Día de los Muertos’, or the Day of the Dead. It is a spirited, joyful Mexican holiday celebrating and honoring the lives of our lost loved ones by welcoming their spirits back to the living world for a couple of days. What I love is how this is a joyful celebration inspired by death, loss, change, and impermanence. 

If you ever were to walk through a Mexican town during Día de los Muertos, you’d think that it’s unlike anything else you’ve seen before. The streets glow with candles and cempasúchil (marigold) flowers, children laugh in calavera (skeleton) costumes, and families gather around altars filled with photos of their loved ones, pan de muerto (bread of the dead), tamales, and drinks their loved ones used to enjoy. There’s music, dancing, and even jokes about death itself. It’s festive, playful, making the celebration altogether a deeply moving experience. 

I’ve always thought about how smoothly this tradition integrates one of the most essential learnings in yoga, namely, the acceptance of impermanence. When practicing yoga, on and off the mat, we are often reminded to be present and to accept that change is a constant in our lives, that nothing lasts forever. 

Ultimately, we are guided to uncover attachments (to what once was) or aversions to what we’d like to avoid (or change), so that we can free ourselves from unnecessary suffering caused by a false sense of control.  These teachings remind us that instead of having attachments to relationships, careers, and wealth, or aversions to change, loss, and impermanence, they are a natural part of life. Therefore, we can allow ourselves to – yes – grieve but also, as with Dia de los Muertos, to honor what once was, even celebrate it, knowing that life goes on.

In conclusion, when practicing yoga, I can honor impermanence not with sadness, but with appreciation and gratitude, just as when we celebrate our ancestors by remembering their laughter, their favorite dishes, and their stories. Yoga, like Día de los Muertos, invites us to keep that connection present, to celebrate the fullness of what is here now (life, experiences, possessions, and people) even as we bow to their fleeting nature.

In the spirit of an altar for Dia de los Muertos, we could say that when we step into our yoga practice, it feels a little like placing a flower on the altar: a small, living offering, a beautiful reminder that life is ever-changing and we continue, breath by breath.