The Conductor as Yogi:  A Different View of the Candle at Both Ends

“Burning the candle at both ends” is a metaphor we know well.  Through our school years, first jobs, perhaps raising children, second jobs, and navigating all that modern life requires of us, we find ourselves packing more and more into our day, even when we know it is not wise nor healthy . . . and in the end, maybe not really worth it.

But it is hard to imagine another way.  As I write this, it is still dark outside–my “candle” is a dim lamp (so as not to shock the nervous system too much) and the lowered intensity of my laptop.  I have grading to do, countless wrap up tasks and emails as the semester ends, a yoga class I want to take this morning, and several long overdue errands and home and hearth items to handle.  Today.  

I am a fan of re-framing, re-calibrating, re-imagining.  For me, it signifies awareness and growth.  Last week, for whatever reason, I had one of those awareness moments, where the candle-at-both-ends metaphor took on a different meaning.

A candle brings light and light brings understanding, inspiration, and clarity.  When we burn that morning or evening candle, we have essentially two choices.  We can focus on the work, or we can focus on the light itself.  During these summer months when most of us have longer days and more natural light, what if we started a new habit?  What if sunrise and sunset, our natural “candles,” were times of insight and reflection; times for mindfulness, for breathing to get centered for the day or to wind down, for simple meditation or taking in nature’s beauty, whether a flowerpot on an urban balcony or a sunset viewable from your kitchen window.  

Rather than cues to rev up and accomplish (mostly) mundane tasks, wrapping our days in more meaningful light awareness can create an opportunity to put things in their proper place.  The tasks won’t go away, the annoyances-du-jour will still occur, but our lived experience may feel differently about it all.  Taking the time to see more clearly before doing more rigorously is an act of personal value, acknowledging the self that can get lost in the world.  

The dopamine hits of reward that come from got.one.more.thing.done can make us believe that we are that.  The tasks, the observable (but often incidental) accomplishments.  Instead, we can learn from the mantra So Ham, where “I am that” references our connection to a larger universal source.  Summer could be the time for us to break an unhealthy cycle and replace it with something lighter (pun intended) that can take us into fall and winter when we can adapt this well-established practice for good (something better) and for good (something permanent).

It’s 6:26 AM and the sun has risen, and while I feel good about accomplishing the task of writing this blog post, I feel better about the insight I have had while doing so.  A work in progress, all of us.  May the light of summer reveal to us what really matters, what awaits us when our spirit is fueled or calmed for our unimagined life yet to come.  Be well, be wise, and may your heart be full.  

Dr. Ramona Wis is the Mimi Rolland Endowed Professor in the Fine Arts, Professor of Music, and Director of Choral Activities at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois and the author of The Conductor as Leader:  Principles of Leadership Applied to Life on the Podium (and video course through Forward Motion, https://www.fwdmotion.org/sp-ramonawis-conductorasleader ).  Dr. Wis is a 500-hour CYT (Certified Yoga Teacher) and a certified Brain Longevity® Specialist.  Find her at:  or ramonawis.com.