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It's a simple question...what's important to you? This week, I've been exploring asking that question from three different perspectives. The first is what's important to you in the big, overarching theme of your life? What provides the oomph to move you forward and continues to keep you pointed toward your personal North Star? For many people, it's family, career, purpose, creativity, freedom, optimal health, and feeling secure in life. For me, one of my guiding lights is peacefulness. Does this decision lead me toward or away from finding ease and peacefulness in my life?
The second perspective is, what's important to me in the immediate future, such as in the next couple of weeks? As I contemplate this aspect of the question, I can't help but be drawn to my to-do list, particularly as I'll be undertaking a large amount of travel in the very near future. I'm leaving in a week to run a yoga retreat in Iceland and, in late July, heading Down Under for a good whack of time. So as you might imagine, I have a list of reminders of what would make my life more peaceful if I were to have them off the list by the time I leave.
And the third aspect is perhaps one that gets a bit less attention than the first two and that's, what is important to me now...in this very moment? If I think about the first question of the big picture, I sense the entirety of who I am...my body, my mind, emotions, and my spiritual essence. As I think about the second question of the near future connected to what needs to be crossed off the to-do list, I sense it's more of an intellectual practice, centered in my mind. When I ask the question of "What's important right now?" I drop into the space of my heart and allow intuition to be the guide. It's as though the to-do list doesn't even exist in this moment.
As you reflect on those three questions, notice if they seem to be in alignment with one another and if not, where does the shift need to occur?
My suggestion for practice this week is to spend a bit more energy focusing on what's important right now. Allow yourself to make firm footing in the present moment as all future moments arise from this space. And if we can tap into the deeper inner calling and move forward from that perspective, perhaps no matter what eventuates in the future, it will have an underlying essence of what truly matters to us.
If we connect to what's important right now, we set the stage for what lies ahead. Trust your inner space and choose from that knowing. Perhaps you'll set yourself up for a more gentle ride no matter how near or far in the future!
I'm tired. Yep...I'll admit that this peace-seeking yogini has had an abundant and full season. It happens about this time every year when our peak season comes to an end and I feel as though I've finally poked my head out of my own personal bubble. And when I feel fatigued, my creativity and inspiration tend to wane. I find myself looking forward to re-filling my own well, stepping off the yoga mat for a while in the role of teacher, and do other things that light my fire like travel, walking along endless beaches, and spending time with my beloved and my heart tribe. It's all on the horizon and for that I'm grateful.
This past weekend I went to SYTAR (Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research) and was pleasantly surprised by my experience. Upon my arrival, I was dragging my tail and holding little in the way of expectations. And in some ways, I believe this is what allowed the space for whatever I needed to be revealed.
Along with networking, meeting new people, and reconnecting with familiar faces, inspiration was sparked for not only new yogi-preneurial ideas but within my heart. The primary catalyst came from one of my most influential teachers-Nischala Joy Devi. I first met her back in 2006 when I was studying yoga therapy. It was at the beginning of the residential course and we had just experienced a disappointing few days with an anatomy teacher. Being an anatomy geek, I had high expectations and was in a grumpy agitated mood with my needs not being met.
And then Nischala Joy Devi arrived. It was as though she floated into our presence and I can honestly say it was the first time I had the face-to-face experience with what I would describe as a "radiant being". I was in quiet awe of how evident a lifelong of heart-centered practice appeared in someone. I silently thought to myself, "I want to be that person when I grow up...". Nischala has just released her new book The Namaste Effect and it inspired this week's theme for my class teaching.
I describe the meaning of Namaste as "The light in me, sees and honors the light in you and when we are both there, we are one." This inner light or sense of connection to our inner beingness is beyond our physical body and our thoughts. It's the consistent essence of our true nature that has always been present and will still be present even as our physical and emotional selves change and dissolve over time. The invitation this week is to deeply connect to and cultivate our inner light. If that light is hidden from us, if we have no awareness of it, then how can we possibly recognize it in others? The essence of this light is love.
The light held within the meaning of Namaste has also been peaked with our recent radiant full moon and the Summer Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere. Nature and the lunarscape are calling us to honor the light in all its expressions. We've been focusing our practices this week on three aspects-the light within us (Namaste), the light reflected back to us (the full moon) and the light of the planet (Solstice).
Remember to breathe light into your own heart first, then send out little shooting stars of light to others, such as those who light you up, those who've forgotten their light, those struggling or facing life challenges, and light to all beings upon this earth.
May the light in your life shine brightly from within and be reflected back to you. May all beings find connection rather than separation and remember the most powerful and benevolent of forces...love.
Take a moment to think of someone who softens your heart and brings a smile to your face simply by hearing the sound of their voice. Wanting to be seen and listened to, as well as to be the receiver of loving thoughts, is a human condition that at times is under-appreciated. The theme this week is to become an observer of the loving voice and how often it comes to you, from you, and within you.
On the opposite end of the spectrum to a loving voice, is the sound one hears when turning on the evening news. If you feel agitated, angry, depressed, or anxious, notice if you're someone who gives a fair whack of energy to staying up-to-date with news and current affairs and if you're balancing that energy by connecting to those offering a loving voice as well. If you find an imbalance it may be pointing you in the direction to go on a news fast and hang out with people who lift you up.
An incredible amount of information comes at us on a daily basis and this week the intention is to notice the type of voice that we're receiving. One of the most powerful voices is our own inner narrative which can be critically brutal, shameful and relentless. We tend to have habitual thought patterns and they can begin first thing in the morning. I was recently listening to a podcast that was saying that it only takes 17 seconds to link into a different thought pathway...yep...easy peasy, a meager 17 seconds to go from focusing on what we don't like about ourselves to what is good, whole, and awesome about ourselves. I heard that and thought, "Wow! I can do that...I only need to notice when my loving voice isn't speaking, welcome her in and let 'er rip for 17 seconds!"
As a therapeutic yoga teacher, I check in with students on a regular basis and encourage a shift of inner dialogue when they describe a part of their body as "bad". The conversation often sounds something like this: Jayne: "What do you need today?" to which the student replies: "I have a bad back, knee, shoulder, hip...fill in the blank". I find this to be the perfect opportunity to try to re-frame our inner and often habitual response of my "bad" part to nothing in us is "bad" but simply letting us know that something needs a bit more TLC. Over time, when I ask more experienced students the same question, they'll reply "My hip needs some loving today" or "I'm taking care of my shoulder and need to find some kindness". In some ways, it can feel pedantic but it begins to deepen the groove of an inner loving voice, which invites a sense of union and harmony rather than a feeling of wanting to disembody a particular part of our physical selves.
To me, it says "Hey body, I'm listening. I hear you and I promise to do my best to look after you."
Another element to creating a loving inner voice is by addressing the energy of the throat or fifth chakra. This center is the residence of communication and creativity, the place where we share and speak our truth. Over the years, I've done a lot of work on this particular part of my being as it had been blocked and shut down for many years. I used to feel silenced, that what I had to say wasn't worth hearing, and I had no courage to strongly vocalize. It doesn't seem to be a coincidence that at one point I was getting laryngitis at least twice a year, completely losing my voice altogether.
The return to empowering my center of communication and creativity began with speech therapy and lots of humming (no singing). I began to learn how to use my voice more effectively and when yoga, mantra, meditation, and chanting began to come into my life, I had found a powerful method for really learning how to express myself and to understand that I needed to do so in order to fulfill my purpose in being in this body in this lifetime. My path is strongly devoted to sharing what I know in as many forms as possible. In order to do this, my throat energy is vital and over the years I've have spent time writing, singing, doing mantra repetition, humming, and sitting in silence. It is said that creativity arises out of stillness and in order for us to be authentic communicators, we need to not only have clarity of thought but to be able to listen without jumping ahead to how we will be responding.
The sum total of the message this week is to pay attention to not only your voice but to all the voices that come to you and to notice if they have a sensibility of loving kindness. And if you can, surround yourself with people whose voices lift you up rather than drag you down. Participating in group singing whether it be at a yoga-inspired Kirtan, in a choir, or sitting in a drumming circle is one supportive way to open the energy of the voice and let the love flow!
One of the deepest lessons that my yoga and meditation practice has instilled in me is to trust my inner knowing and intuition. When I first stepped onto the yoga mat, this isn't something I anticipated would happen, but am certainly happy that it's one of the many benefits of a regular practice. I began practicing back in the early 90's more out of curiosity than anything else. Yoga was one of the most popular activities on offer at the Melbourne University Sports Center and I wanted to find out why so many people were flocking to it. At the time, I was managing a large group fitness program and teaching group exercise (aerobics classes) daily as well as whatever came with managing 35 instructors in three separate facilities.
Murray, my first yoga instructor, said to me fairly early on "Jayne, you should teach yoga..." to which I replied, "I don't want to teach yoga, I teach everything else." And quietly I thought, "I'll keep this just for me." Well, I didn't know that Murray was a prophet, but he sensed something within me that I had no idea existed.
Most of us aren't taught how "to do" inner reflection. Like many people, I had my foot on the accelerator of life and was revving my engines to full throttle. I was moving so unconsciously through life, that life seemed to just happen and I was going along for the ride. I didn't have any idea of what living intentionally meant, what it would be like to do less rather than to do more, or what my purpose was. I did what I was doing because I was athletic and energetic and had been my entire life, so physical education, coaching gymnastics, and the fitness industry fit the bill just fine. Yet, as I grew deeper into my physically-based career and began working more one-on-one with people, I had an inkling that there was something deeper to experience. Staying in the physical realm made sense for many years until it didn't. Thankfully, my yoga path and this realization were colliding around the same time.
I had dabbled in "New Age" books and meditation and sought out "like-minded" women who liked to talk more deeply around the meaning of life over good food and a few bottles of wine. But it was when I began the more formal yoga studies that I recognized for what I had been searching. It was an instantaneous spark and it felt like coming home. And indeed, it was. It is said that all we need to know is sitting like a seed in the center of our being, a place where ease and peacefulness reside. When we tap into it, it ignites a spark that has always been present and it's up to us to keep the flame growing.
Now, many years later, I have dug deep into my practice and recognize that my intention has many facets, one of which is to live with an awakened consciousness as much as possible. It's a constant current running through daily life from the moment of rising to the moment of heading off to sleep. It's as though each moment is an opportunity to be in the practice of yoga, breath, mindfulness, compassion, self-love, ease, acceptance, and of letting go. The potential to awaken to this sits within all beings and it's up to all of us to recognize that we create and grow our own individual story. We so often think that what we're looking for is somewhere else, with someone else, completely outside of ourselves so that's where we focus our attention.
Thank goodness for having those key people nudge us in a direction that we may not have seen. This week, we've been honoring the energy of our own awakening and using the symbol of the lotus flower. It represents new beginnings and finding our way. The flower itself is anchored in mud, rises through murky waters to find it's way to full radiance on the surface of the pond. We so often don't have clarity or know where we're pointed, yet all of us has the potential to dig deeper into our inner landscape and realize that all we need to know is simply sitting within us, waiting for us to say "Yes! It's time to grow and blossom!"
We've come to the end of May, a month of practices focused on mindfulness, and this final week, we've been talking about things that prevent us from moving forward in life. The mindfulness piece is about understanding what is blocking us by growing our awareness of those obstacles that might be standing in our way. Sometimes, the obstacles seem quite obvious, such as not having the budget to renovate a house or start a new business. But as I meditated on this earlier in the week, what I thought about is that many of our obstacles may be quite subtle and difficult to uncover. Some examples might be: What stops us from giving time and energy to self-care, growth or self-love? What blocks us from sitting for a few minutes a day in meditation?
One of the many reasons to step onto our yoga mat or sit on our meditation cushion is to encourage the open flow of Prana or energy through all levels of our being from the physical, spiritual, the emotional and mental parts of us. When we bend, stretch, contract, breathe, find stillness, and observe, we begin to notice where in our being the energy feels blocked or clogged. It is thought that injuries and illness block the flow of energy in our being, keeping us from finding ease and harmony. Part of the healing process is to support ourselves on many levels to move energy through these sticking points.
When I was working at the Wellness Institute, we had a variety of practitioners offering acupuncture, kinesiology, cranial-sacral therapy, yoga, meditation, and massage. All of these various practitioners had one thing in common regardless of the modality-they were all trying to enhance the flow of life force for better health. Understanding where the energy pools in the body is one step in awakening our ability to heal and thrive.
In the Hindu pantheon of archetypes, gods and goddesses, one of the most beloved is the elephant-headed god, Ganesha. During my two visits to India, images, icons, statues, and carvings of Ganesha were omnipresent and part of his role is one of the "Remover of Obstacles". Thus, the mantra, Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha is often chanted, to invoke the energy of Ganesha and clear the way for things to unfold with ease. It's often chanted at the beginning of new endeavors such as opening a business or beginning a relationship. When I chant this mantra, I visualize a huge elephant walking along a path in front of me, swinging his massive trunk from side-to-side, clearing away any obstacles so things move along as smoothly as possible. In some ways, it reminds us to not sweat the small stuff, that all things change over time and in the end, all will be okay. We so often simply find a way to work or accept what's in front of us.
Ganesha is also the "Ruler of the Muladhara chakra", that is, the first of the seven energy vortexes running from the base of our spine to the crown of our head. The base chakra is represented by the color red, the seed sound of "LAM", and the element of the earth. It's about being grounded, safe, secure, and connected to our tribe. Another reason to chant the Ganesha mantra is to connect firmly in the earth's energy, as though we are planting ourselves in order to move the energy upward. The mantra is thought to remove negativity and fear from our minds which so easily creeps into new endeavors. We need to tap into our courageous selves as we move along our intended paths so why not invite an elephant-headed god along for the journey?
No matter what might feel as though it's an obstacle in your life, it is said that when we are unified within when oneness is present, there are no obstacles. So take some moments today, to check in with how the energy is flowing through your life, where it feels stagnant and then honor what might be in your way. Invoke a sense of courage as you move forward and perhaps chant 1008 rounds of the Ganesha mantra, as it's said that in doing so, all fear will be removed from your heart.
Om Gum Ganapatayei Namah, indeed!
I offered something in classes this past week that I've never done before and not only have I enjoyed exploring this, but based on student feedback they have as well. At the beginning of the practice, I set the Insight Timer to randomly ring a bell throughout the practice. The instruction is to go into a resting pose whenever you hear the bell, take three breaths, and simply notice where you were when the bell rang. One aim of the practice is to do so without judging how you were doing when the bell rang.
The inspiration for this came from the Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh. As a peace activist, he was exiled from Vietnam during the war and ended up establishing a monastic community in the south of France, at a place called Plum Village. In the movie, Walk With Me, based on Plum Village, we are granted a window into the daily lives of the resident monks and nuns. Every 15-minutes, a bell rings throughout the community and as people hear it, they stop whatever they are doing and take three deep breaths...then they resume whatever task was at hand.
Plum Village allows visitors at various times throughout the year and one of these times some visitors were enjoying the surrounds and listening to a string quartet of monks and nuns playing. Mid-song, the bell rang so the musicians put down their instruments, focused on their three breaths, then resumed playing. At the conclusion of the film, a friend of mine said, "I need a bell in my life..." and I thought to myself, "Yes! So do I". Hence the inspiration for trying it on in classes this past week.
What I noticed as we did this "pausing practice" was that many students were already quite present in their experience. One of the places where we allow ourselves to be present and release our connection to the daily grind is during our time on the mat. Where this practice is truly useful is "out there" in the real world. Imagine pausing when you're stuck in traffic, rushing to get something completed or meeting a deadline, having an argument, or embarking on a trip to someplace new. Wouldn't it be helpful to have a mindfulness guardian angel sitting on our shoulder, at the ready to ring the bell when things start to draw us away from our center?
The beauty of this practice is that it brings us back to the present moment, the one and only place where life is really happening. The more frequently it's repeated the stronger we connect to our spiritual muscle. Can you envision a life lived that never hears the bell of the present moment? It would be as though we are missing the sweetness of all the experiences that constitute what it means to have a fully awakened human experience.
When we pause, we notice whatever may be happening. This includes pleasant, agitating, loving, or prickly experiences. We see it all with the same openness and as Thich Nhat Hanh says, "In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred." It allows us to open the pathway and view the entirety of our lives as a sacred experience, rather than one we miss through our distraction or busyness to be elsewhere. I feel excited by this awakening to my own life and the chance that despite what might be difficult or beautiful, it's all a part of me. I don't wish to get to the end of my time without knowing that all along it has all been a sacred journey.
Set a timer to remind yourself to be radically present and savor every moment of this one, human, precious existence.
Back in the early 1990s, I was at a place in my life where I had some blank pages. I had resigned from being the head gymnastics coach at the club I was managing and gave myself a year to say yes to anything that came across my path (within reason of course). One of those opportunities was working at a popular pub in Melbourne, called The Geebung Polo Club. I had been recruited, somewhat by chance, by the manager to work in their bistro, preparing and serving food. And for a while, along with teaching aerobics classes, as I became more skilled in the kitchen even contemplated changing course altogether and becoming a chef. Yet my main motivation at the time was to save as much money as possible to enable me to launch into some worldwide travel so the culinary academy got placed on the back burner (no pun intended!).
After traveling for 12 consecutive months, I landed back in the States needing to refill my coffers as quickly as I could so that I could get back to backpacking. I worked five jobs simultaneously (yep...I was a lot younger then) one of which was as a physical and hand therapy aide. I had graduated with my bachelors in Physical Education and was a perfect fit for this private practice. I loved it, and after six months I had saved enough money to head back on the road but before I did I got raving letters of recommendation with the intention of applying to a physical (physio down under) therapist school upon my return.
I applied and had great expectations of getting accepted...except I didn't. I was disappointed and confused, wondering how someone with glowing reviews, graduating with a physical education degree with distinction and having real-life work experience in the exact field I wished to pursue could possibly get turned down. But I did and after many days/weeks of shaking my bewildered head, decided to change course. It was during that time that I went to graduate school and deepen my own field of study through exercise and sports science. And so I did.
Looking back now, I feel as though the timing for my PT ambitions simply wasn't meant to be. Perhaps the intervention of not getting into PT school came through the force of divine timing. Had I become a PT, I most likely would have stayed within the paradigm of that profession and, in hindsight, I realized that a deeper part of me wanted to connect to and teach a deepening of consciousness. As I sit typing, I realize that my path would've looked quite different to what has now manifested in my own business where I have complete freedom to express, share, learn, and expand what's sitting in my heart.
My thought of the week related to perfect timing is also expressed through the eight-limbed path in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, in particular, the final Niyama known as Ishvara Pranidhana, surrendering to a higher source, God/Goddess, Universal light or whatever moniker you wish to give that "beyond us" realm. Basically, we can practice austerities and set intentions that will lead us to become the best version of ourselves, yet in the end, we need to let go of all of it, surrendering to any expectation of what the outcome needs to look like. We might have an image of what that is, but it actually might look quite different to anything we could ever have imagined.
Do your practices and let go of wanting a particular result. It doesn't mean giving up or not setting goals or having dreams, but instead, do all of that and stay open to what manifests.
I had my eyes on the target of becoming a physical therapist and when that didn't happen, I created my own suffering. Of course, in reflection, I'm quite pleased with how things have turned out as I have a career that I love and feel deeply passionate about. I hope that I have gathered some wisdom along the way to remain open to the divine timing of my own life and to allow what is waiting in the wings to appear when it's good and ready.
Breathe in, let go and trust that you will be exactly where you are meant to be.
