Constant Motion

When I was a young kid, I had a LOT of energy. I was in perpetual motion...cartwheeling my way through life, leaping at any seemingly opportune time (like the supermarket aisle), and fidgeting. I always seemed to be fidgeting and as a result was told to "stop moving and sit still".

These were prophetic words seeing that as an adult, I have made it my personal mission to find my own inner stillness as well as teach it to others. It obviously didn't come as my default setting and has been something that I've had to practice over a long period of time.

Have you ever paid attention to how much time you spend fidgeting? Do you frequently pick at your fingernails, tap your toes, run your fingers through your hair or tug at your ear lobes? How difficult would it be for you to sit completely still as you are in a conversation with somebody else?
Our culture rewards us for constantly moving, doing and striving. If we sit still we may be labeled lazy as opposed to those who are seen as being busy and engaged. If we're moving and busy, then we must be doing something worthwhile and important.

As in anything, a continuum exists between doing nothing at all and being overly committed to activity. My thought for the week is can you do both (not at the same time)? Can you be productive as well as experience complete stillness and inner quiet? Ahhhh....now that's where our yoga practice comes into its full glory.

To paraphrase my teacher, Judith Hanson Lasater, "an advanced practitioner of yoga is someone who can be at ease and in stillness no matter which posture they're doing". We often think of advanced yogis as those who can do a full lotus during an inversion, a full wheel or who seem to be able to fully express any pose thrown their way. But the underlying question is can they do it and be fully at ease with breath and thought? It truly takes it to the next level of being in our yoga when we reflect the ancient teachings of asana (posture) as being in a comfortable seat.

The next time you step onto your mat, try finding the still point within each posture. The point at which everything feels within balance is the moment we can easily be with our breath and no struggle exists. It can really alter your experience.

Fidget first, find the pose then open to stillness. It'll take your practice to another level. Enjoy the journey!

Empty and Full

 

 

The breath is a vital part of every yoga practice. It has countless functions with the most obvious being that without it we would cease to be. When a newborn enters the world, that first breath, an inhale, is what truly marks its arrival. And when we come to the end of our time, that final breath is an exhale. The journey in between that initial inhale and final exhale is filled with opportunity to really have the experience of breathing.

In classes this past week, we explored the breath from the perspective of fullness and emptiness. To begin this experience, exhale the breath by drawing the navel center back in towards the spine to press the breath out of the body. Pause and get a sense of feeling as empty as possible. On the inhaling breath, comfortably fill the lungs up to get a true experience of feeling fullness within. Retain the breath for a moment before starting the exhale. We repeated this process for numerous breaths, noticing the constant shifting from fullness to emptiness to fullness and so on.

As I taught this process throughout the week, I began to connect the breath to the metaphor of life. The fullness of breath can relate to abundance in our every day worlds, from our most basic needs being met (food, housing, clean air and water) to the quality of our relationships and what opportunities sit before us. Emptiness is the space in which life unfolds, where seeds are planted and manifestation takes root. It's realizing that we need both to explore our full potential.

It's that idea of how things are constantly moving, that nothing is permanent and states of being are always shifting. We're hungry, we're full; we're busy, we're bored; we're energized, we're exhausted; we're happy, we're sad.

When we connect to the abundance in our own lives we connect with a feeling of gratitude and when we realize how much we have, life just seems better. But, perhaps more value could be placed on the emptiness of life. Sitting in silence, noticing the physical wide open spaces of our natural environment or spending time in solitude. When we are able to release the striving mind into a spaciousness of being fully present with what is, the seed of potential begins to awaken.

Just as the breath shifts from empty to full, so does our existence. Both are part of the whole experience and yet, completely different.

The Right Way

Have you ever been in a yoga class and the teacher cues a pose, such as Warrior One, and says something like "line up your front heel to the middle arch of your back foot". And then, you go to another instructor's class and they cue Warrior One by saying, "keep your feet hip width apart and shorten your stance". And if you went to a third instructor's class, they might say something completely different to the previous two. What do you do? You probably find yourself asking the question, "Well, which way is the right way?".

I raised this topic in classes that I taught this past week and it opened a beautiful door of discussion. Many students of yoga want to think that what they're doing is the right way to do it, mainly to ensure that they get the benefits of the pose and don't injure themselves. At least, that's what I project that they want and from a teachers viewpoint, my first objective is to keep things absolutely as safe as possible. I hold the intention that our yoga is a lifelong practice and to keep getting ourselves onto the mat, we need to know how to manage the obstacles that might keep us off our mats.

Some of those hurdles could be injury or recovery from illness. I have come across people who have an injury and completely step away from their practice rather than into it. This might be due to the idea that they've only practiced one way and they can no longer. To stay with the practice they have to alter their approach and that often means returning to a beginners mind. How can I manage my injury yet still stay connected to my practice? Am I able to let go of the more challenging class for a gentle or restorative practice?

Thinking about the right way to practice any pose, I came to my thought for the week. That is, that the right way to do a pose is the way that your body allows you to do the pose. This translates to each practitioner being responsible for what's happening in their physical selves, even if it means doing it differently to how the instructor has presented it. Not every body can fit into every pose and if we impose an ideal of what it should look like, then we skip over the part about it being our practice.

Granted, different lineages teach poses differently. What I love exploring is how can we honor these traditions and honor what our bodies are telling us simultaneously? Sometimes they both agree and at others, the body might be giving us different signals.

Here are the basic guidelines I like to offer my students in raising their awareness as to what the right pose is for them:

1. If you feel pain, it's not right.
2. Avoid forcing your body to do any posture. With timely progressions and warm up, your body will naturally move into a pose more deeply when it's ready.
3. If you feel discomfort, that's OK as long as it's not pain. Yoga often puts us into uncomfortable and unfamiliar positions. Find your breath and explore. If it moves into being painful, it's time to back off.
4. Know that your pose is going to look different to everyone else and that's the beauty of it.

With compassionate instruction and support, the right way to do a pose is your way. So, onto our mat and explore!

That Other List

I often refer to taking line items off of our "to-do lists" to open up more space in our lives for things that serve and support our own personal evolution. In a conversation the other day with a dear, long-time friend, she made reference to her "joy list". "Joy list"? I hadn't thought of it from that perspective. Hence, this conversation has led me to my thought for the week...creating a "joy list".

If you're anything like me, there's an on-going tug of war between the need to complete a "to-do list" and the all I want to do "joy list". Why is it that so often I feel that I can sneak a peak at the "joy list" only after the "to-do list" has all of its items crossed off? Is the "to-do list" that much more important than the "joy list"?

I wonder if it's just a further expression of how we are raised. You get dessert after you finish ALL of your vegetables. You can't watch TV until your homework is complete. Do your piano scales before launching into Beethoven's Fifth. Do the drills on the tennis court before you can play a match. Warm up before going for an all out sprint. Clean your room before your friend can come over for a play date...and on it goes.

Many of these steps are important to preparing us for a better outcome. Without a warm up the sprint could result in a pulled hamstring. Without doing our scales, the fingers might not be as fluid. And we all more or less agree that education trumps TV. But what about when we reach adulthood and our time is more our own? We all have responsibilities and creating a list of priorities can be rather time efficient.

I know that if I give my husband a "honey-do list", it spreads the load and eases my burden. I truly feel we're in partnership when I come home and all that other stuff has been taken care of - yea team! But this weeks thought is more of how we so easily give more credence to the "to-do list" than to the things that bring us joy. Isn't experiencing joy as important as getting the mundane accomplished? In fact, isn't it more important?

I have written about the Purusharthas before, that is, the purpose of our soul. They are dharma (our purpose), artha (tools needed), kama (inherent joy) and moksha (freedom). This deep philosophical inquiry even states that kama (joy) is vital to living our life's purpose, not "honey, did you take the garbage out?".

Another perspective is to find the joy in the mundane. We can do this simply by being fully present with whatever it is that we're doing. A mindfulness approach to our daily activities puts us into the experience of "now", rather than taking us into the projected daydream state of what else we could be doing.

My question is to look at what brings you that uplifted feeling on a regular basis? It could be the simplest of pleasures such as walking barefoot on the earth, feeling the sun on your skin, having a conversation with a friend or doing something for someone else. If you're keen to explore this more deeply, write down three things that bring you joy each and every day. And begin to be more present with what is.

Put that at the top of your "to-do list" and see what unfolds.

Expanding the Network

During my recent trip to Australia, I spent some time fundraising for the Global Seva Challenge to India. One particular event was held on a rainy Friday night in Melbourne and I was wondering how many people would venture out to participate in an event led by someone they didn't know. My feeling was that any awareness or funds that were raised were better than doing nothing at all.

One of my new yoga friends hosting the event, Fiona Hyde, who owns Williamstown Yoga, was also uncertain as to who would roll up. Our mantra became "let's just put it out there and see what happens." What unfolded was quite a striking evening. I realized as I met with a small, but committed and curious group of people, that what had begun as a challenge for me back in February had grown bigger than I could have ever imagined. Before I committed to trying to raise $20,000 for Off the Mat, Into the World, I had a deep fear of failing. How would I go about raising this amount of money? How would I begin to talk about the emotional subject of human slavery? Did I know enough people to reach what seemed to be an enormous amount of money and a lofty goal?

As I sat in a candlelit circle, with a borrowed harmonium in front of me, I was overwhelmed by this feeling of connection - of how a simple idea of stepping into a place of fear for a cause bigger than myself, had landed me across the Pacific Ocean with other like minds. It was simply stunning to hear a couple of the people at the event say, "I don't know what compelled me to be here tonight. I had other plans, but something deep inside told me that this was important."

And I guess that's it. That some inner wisdom, some voice from deep within speaks loud enough for us to pay attention. For me it was that inner voice that started as an idea, one based in fear no less, that manifested into a gathering where the collective was aimed at doing something bigger than all of us. Simply sitting together, singing kirtan, raising our own vibration and setting an intention of support, empowerment and love, we felt we could make a difference and authentically alter the course of someone's life.

My thought of the week is this. Believe that inner voice that often speaks only in a whisper and as you begin to listen more intently, recognize that fear is just a fleeting symptom of something big.

And go for it!