Monthly Archives: November 2014

#riskbeinghappy

21 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by in Gratitude, Intentions, Life Lessons

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It happened this morning while riding the metro in DC – I looked around at my fellow riders.  Rather than just “look,” I felt for a spark of life.  And didn’t really get anything back.  I completely understand the mentality – we’re all here to change the world and with that, comes a great weight.  But shouldn’t that weight be energizing and uplifting rather than push us down?

In a previous life (three years ago), I was in that role.  Working on for a non-profit and I was changing the world.  But life, as it often does, threw in a surprise roadblock and from that block, I learned one thing that I hold true today – If I am not happy, I can’t change anyone’s world.  I set out to figure out where and how I’d lost my happy.  While the immediate answer is clear to me, the journey back has been nothing less than empowering.

This morning on the metro, I did what any ‘normal’ person would do to counter the negative energy – I started singing to myself and dancing.  While the other commuters rolled their eyes and probably told co-workers of this crazy dancing fool on the train, I hope what they actually picked up on was the spark.

“Namaste,” the word we speak at the close of many yoga classes, means ‘the light in me bows to the light in you.’  I’ve focused a lot on that phrase lately in the classes I teach.  I want my students to learn two truths about themselves – they have a light inside and they need to let that shit shine.  I’ve had friends tell me I glow and I’m finding when I get that comment the most is when I’m happy.  I think there’s power in that.

Let’s all do something with that power.  Let’s #riskbeinghappy and do something daily that makes us smile.  It can be to hang out with great friends, do an awesomely fun yoga pose, or any other (safe/legal) activity that brings you great joy.  While having one person experience that level of happy is my goal, happiness is contagious.  So share your joy, share your spark.  Share it on Twitter or Instagram as #riskbeinghappy and challenge friends and family do the same.  One genuine and true smile a day.

How hard can it be?  And why stop at one?

Just breathe

12 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Breath, Forrest, Intentions

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Today’s theme was brought to me by breath.  And it served as an AMAZING reminder how powerful breath can be.

I had one student attend my morning class and as with all private sessions, I asked where she would like to focus.  Her response – breath and core.  I sat her in meditation and asked for her to breathe deeply.  After picking up on “catches” in her breath, I asked how she felt when she inhaled.  She was sick with pneumonia a year ago and was still trying to get her lung capacity back up.

I worked with her on expanding her lungs, sitting behind her and reading where the prana (energy) was getting stuck.  At one point, I placed my fingers deeply into her collarbone and asked her to send breath there.  She could but with obvious and literal pain.  For the rest of the practice, I encouraged her to stay just under that pain cut threshold but to inhale slowly.

Cut to me, offering an adjustment in Warrior I, less than 30 minutes later.  She had hiked her shoulders to her ears and I was helping her find a place of comfort there.  When I felt a clear, unrestrained breath hit her collarbone.  When I asked her about it, she purposefully inhaled to that spot again and said “It doesn’t hurt.”

The end of my day concluded with a Forrest class centered entirely in my lungs.  I could feel the expansiveness of my front, back, left, and right side as I inhaled.  I felt my ribs expanding, allowing the life force to flow easier into my very being.

Breath is one of those things that we take for granted.  Our bodies inhale and exhale without us actually having to think.  But what happens when we do – when we slow our inhale down and allow our exhale to just release?  We find space.  We find calm.  We find a way and a reason to actually begin to breathe freely again.  And to let some shit go.

Forrest Yoga is NOTHING without breath.  It’s through breath that we learn to ride the edge; we learn to stalk that which is holding us back and either snuggle in close with it and make it our friend or we release it with an amazing lion’s breath.  The roar from a really cleansing lion’s breath is beyond amazing.  But it only happens when we breathe into a space where we want to let something go.

So breath.  #justbreathe  Sounds easy.  But a phrase I’ve used in many a yoga class is “When the going gets tough, the tough start to breathe.”

Open mind

10 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by in Forrest, Intention setting, Intentions, Life Lessons

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I cannot lie about this one – today I was in a funk all day long. I didn’t wake up in that mood but as the day progressed, I could feel it coming on stronger and stronger. To the point, I wanted to climb into bed and bury my head in defeat.

Forrest Yoga teaches to breathe into whatever we are feeling. After we get our breath going, we ask our body/mind/emotion “what do you need from me?” Frequently, a resounding spot will cry out for attention; but then there is often no response from anywhere. In those moments, teachers would say to breathe into our heart space. I started my breath up, asked what was needed, kept breathing into my heart, asked again what was needed, and got nothing back. So I kept breathing into my heart thinking eventually the answer will show itself.

Forrest Yoga also teaches us to not be so set in our ways that we cannot accept or be ready for a needed change. It was that lesson that applies to this blog. After spending the day breathing into areas of my heart I thought needed breath, I took a Forrest class. And the focus was on the hips. From the very first hip opener, I realized I had been sending breath and healing to the wrong area of my body. My hips, though they never answered me directly, were begging for attention; more precisely, my left hip but they both got the attention they needed during the 90 minute class.

If I had been set in my ways, stubborn, I would have kept the breath and attention centered around my heart space. If my mind had been closed, I wouldn’t have felt that first “here I am” when my left hip shouted at me. By maintaining and embracing an open mind, I allowed my body to heal my spirit. Which it did. Our minds get in our way so often that we end up not realizing it. We think “I can power through” or go into negative, self destructive patterns. With an open mind, we allow ourselves to feel, to get curious, and to find a way to work with what’s holding us back and take a step forward.

Success

08 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by in Life Lessons

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How does one define success? And how much of that definition is thrust upon us or driven from the inside out?

I had lunch with a friend yesterday and he is going through it. He left a secure 9-5, Monday through Friday job to follow his dream and his passion. He talked about how he has to step back and re-evaluate where he’s taking his vision and the weight he carries was obvious to anyone. At one point in the conversation, I saw where the weight was coming from – he has friends that have job titles of “importance,” maybe a corner office, or some other perceived item of value. He has his dream job (working for himself) which does not compute but rather competes with that vision.

I asked him two questions: Who was he trying to make proud with his accomplishments? And when was he going to make himself proud? That sunk in with him and I felt it – he freely acknowledged he doesn’t want THAT life but that he wants to have the freedom to follow his heart.

Those are two profoundly different statements that ring true to me today. As a yogi, we’re taught that yoga is about being here, accepting this moment for what it is, and to carry no judgement. But in the world at large, life (and work) is all about the moment and the shiny objects we can buy because of the job. What if there’s something more? What if the people you judge yourself against are judging themselves too…against you?

It goes back to the very principle of being a bad yogi – we are each on our own path. So quite frankly, who the fuck cares? Yoga itself is not a competition sport, meaning “so what?” if your neighbor on the mat can push up into handstand. We practice and we breathe in order to better feel the current. A teacher/friend of mine has a phrase she uses “There is no gold star given when you achieve the splits.” And she’s right. We make steps toward a final pose shape, with full understanding that we may not accomplish the perceived ideal for that shape. Daily, we work in an office or we teach or we follow our hearts. We could all learn to breathe into our life respect for ourselves and learn to be proud of where we’ve been and where we’re going rather than comparing ourself to the neighbor that has it all. Because having it all may mean having nothing in a life filled with things.

Trick or treat

03 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by in Intentions, Life Lessons

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I taught a class on Halloween and set out to set an appropriately themed intention. While I joked that “why do you put your costume on” was too deep of a concept for a fun night, I think there’s something in it to think about. More to come on that later but I set the intention as “trick or treat.”

When we practice and encounter a pose we don’t enjoy, that’s too hard, we trick ourselves into the pose. We breathe faster; mentally check out; start an internal dialogue about something else; or even come out of the pose entirely. This avoidance to the pose tricks us into thinking we’re actually processing the shit that is coming out.

Within this time, we learn how to better treat ourselves with the same poses. We can breathe slower and deeper; we can send breathe to that body part that’s screaming for attention (or avoidance); we can get curious about why the pose is having that effect on us; and most importantly, we can feel for shift in our mental/physical/or emotional body. We treat ourselves on the mat by learning more about that which drives us and which challenges us.

And from the mat, we can apply to our life off the mat. How often do we check out during a conference call? Where does your mind go to avoid work that needs to be completed? Daily, we find a new and different way to trick ourselves into inaction. Why not flip that? Why not begin to identify the triggers that encourage you to avoid the issue and instead, get curious. Why do you dread the conference call? It may be the subject matter, the other callers, or feeling time is more precious. If we flip that and dedicate our entire selves to the matter at hand, how much can we improve our attitude, the attitude of our peers, and the final product.

I have a phrase as the footer of my emails that has hung with me for years “Dedicate yourself to the effort.” It’s not always the final product or destination that matters; but the path we take and the lessons we learn along the way. And shouldn’t that be the treat of life itself?