How Was Your Weekend?

My Mondays start at 6:45am with a private yoga client in Arlington, then I head to Potomac, MD to teach another private yoga session.  I have a mini-break which I run home to walk my dog, meditatively, and then dart back out the door to teach a corporate lunchtime yoga class in D.C.  This is my typical Monday.  And like most Mondays, today after leaving the corporate yoga class I stopped into Smoothie King to satisfy my Green Tea Tango with Banana addiction.  The girl asked me “how was your weekend?”.  I had to pause and think “my weekend? what did I do?”.  Though it was only 1:30pm on Monday, my weekend felt like it was so long ago.

I had a relaxing weekend of yoga, reading (A New Earth), watching a movie (Hitch), doing some laundry, going to the gym and wasting time on Facebook.  I think I did a few errands but honestly I can’t say I over exerted myself.  It was a perfect weekend.

It’s now Monday at 3:45pm.  So I ask myself…why does it feel like the weekend was so long ago?  Am I starting to wake-up to my life in the present?  Am I starting to live in the power of being aware of what each moment at hand has to offer?  It is freeing to just surrender to what the day has to offer, i.e. not trying to control todays’ events, not being disappointed that I didn’t have a more productive weekend.  The weekend has past.  There will be another one soon.  Until then, I have today to enjoy and tomorrow to wake-up to.  Namaste.      

The Answers Are Inside

I’m slowly discovering I have all the answers but I haven’t taken enough time to listen.  Seeking answers requires patience and awareness.  It also requires that we ask the right questions.  Going deep inside with questions, requires stillness.  Stillness drives creativity.  Creativity drives the questions.  I don’t think there’s ever one final answer as each new answer creates new questions.  With new questions, there are more answers.  Being willing to listen within is a continuous cycle of discovery. 

I often say to my yoga students “take care of yourself so you can take care of others”.  Part of taking care of one’s self is living in and respecting the cycle of discovery; that is, taking the time to go inside, patiently sit with the Self and be open to whatever comes up.  This is hard.  It’s far easier to look outside of the Self for answers, rely on words from others or stories we tell ourselves based on external factors (not necessarily facts).  The problem is these externally driven answers don’t really bring us closer to the truth.  More than likely, the external answers barricade us farther from our truth.

Vinyasa practice (often termed meditation in motion), meditation, journaling, chanting and walking in nature are simple tools that I rely on to enable me to “be” with myself, craft questions and listen for the answers.    

Learn from Injuries

I’m convinced that physical injuries are life lessons in disguise.  Of course, you have to be open to seeing and learning from the lessons offered.

With my bum ankle, I’ve been on my yoga mat daily in a different form.  I’ve been forced, due to the injury, to practice yoga modifications.  Sure I’ve done modifications in the past but more as an exploratory practice.  This time I had no choice.

Practicing with my injury has brought shifts to my practice both mentally and physically.  It has reminded me to experience the many ways to enter, deepen and exit a pose.  It has forced me out of moving on autopilot and truly be present.  It’s been like being a beginning yoga student as I’ve had to approach my yoga practice in a way I’ve never done before.  Let me rephrase, working with this injury has shown me how to respect my body, to truly take care of myself and listen within.

With my twisted ankle, I was forced to play with a different side of my edge.  People thought I was crazy for practicing yoga the day after the injury occurred.  I took it slow.  I listened to my body.  I actually believe the movement helped it heal faster.  It has been fun, freeing and a great reminder that working with injuries are part of the experience –on and off the yoga mat.   

Twisted

It’s funny how one little thing, like twisting an ankle, can easily shift your entire day.  Yes, I twisted my right ankle late yesterday and it has shuffled my day and quite possibly the rest of my week.  I woke up in pain during the middle of the night and couldn’t sleep or walk.  I canceled a couple private yoga client sessions this morning (sorry!).  Lined up a sub for a lunchtime yoga class tomorrow.  Missed the yoga class I had planned to take at lunchtime today at Down Dog —ahhhh, my practice .  And I had to bail on getting my mani/pedicure.  Bummer!

Now I sit confined to the bed catching up on the administrative details of my yoga business.  In a way it’s a blessing to be stuck at home.  I’m actually getting through my check list as I’m forced to focus and sit still.  It’s an odd feeling to be limited in my mobility given I run a mobile yoga studio/business.  I’m so use to darting from teaching a client to running an errand to back to a another client.  Rarely do I sit still.  Maybe this is what I needed?

We take for granted so many little things, like ankles, walking and simply moving.  We often don’t pay attention to parts of our bodies, mundane tasks and our lives until something goes wrong.  I have to think this is a sign, a positive sign.   

Simplicity

Simplicity doesn’t mean easy.  Consider seated meditation:  it looks simple but to really do it —and I mean to really and truly be with your Self physically, mentally and emotionally —is challenging.  I love all these corporate ads now that are using the concept of meditation in their advertising.  They make it look simple with people dressed in suits sitting at ease cross-legged, eyes shut and focused, but hello it’s hard as hell (pardon me, yogis).

Simplicity doesn’t mean difficult.  Consider an asana (yoga pose) that you struggle through, that you make difficult.  The reality is we all can be somewhere in that pose and be beautiful.  Each pose offers an opportunity for individuals to shine and express themselves in their own way.  Many of us opt to force, strain and struggle to look like what we “think” the pose is suppose to look like (hello ego) because we saw it once in a book “that way”.  Keep it simple and make it yours.  Simplicity is beautiful. 

Simplicity is balance.  It’s the balance point between easy and difficult.    Simplicity invites neutrality.  Is that a word?.  Sounds like I’m starting to get complicated.  Complicated —a sign that I need to turn toward simplicity or simply say “good night”.  Ahhhh, that was simple! 

Yoga’s Sweet Spot

Busy, busy, busy.  Life ebbs and flows.  Some days I feel on top of things; others I feel overwhelmed with the details of running a business and maintaining my personal life.  The key is finding the balance between the chaos and calm.  For me, that’s where the sweet spot resides –smack in the middle.

Yoga keeps me sane and in touch with the sweet spot of life.  I’m heading to class tonight to take a 90 minute power vinyasa flow with one of my favorite teachers.  This has kept me cranking through the busyness of my afternoon.  I love teaching and meeting with my clients —this doesn’t feel like work.  It’s the stuff in between —taxes, bills, writing contracts and crafting invoices —that sometimes bogs me down.  Dealing with these administrative details, does remind me that I’m lucky to have the freedom and pleasure of having my own business.  I’m in control.  The key is staying in control. 

Yoga has enabled me to channel my energy, remain controlled and see that anything is possible.  We all have so much potential.  It’s how, and if, we chose to pursue it.  Our potential can be hidden at times or blocked by life’s challenges.  I’ve learned that these storms in life are temporary, no matter how harsh they might seem at the time.  Even the blissful events in life are temporary.  Weathering both the storms and bliss is part of finding your potential, your sweet spot in life.

And then there’s yoga class.  Reflect back on your last yoga class.  There were probably a few storms you had to face (those poses you despise or find challenging) and there were probably a few blissful moments (accomplishing a pose you thought was out of your reach, arriving to corpse pose feeling you gave it your all, etc).  Then there are the in-between moments –the balance point between bliss and stormy.  Ahhhh, the sweet spot!

I’m rambling.  Gotta run to yoga.