"Nothing would be done at all if a man or woman waited until they could do it so well that no one could find fault with it." -Cardinal Newman-
There have been times in my life when I have chosen not to take a chance on something, for fear of failure. As a result, I inevitably end up with feelings of resentment and anxiety. Coupled with those feelings, there is the nagging thought,"what if?". When I remind myself that making mistakes is part of the human condition, I give myself permission to explore life's many opportunities and challenges.
Showing up at your first yoga class is the first step. It doesn't matter what clothes you wear, how much experience you have, or if you haven't yet lost that last 10 pounds. What matters is that you show up. Yoga is like life, if we come to it looking for perfection, the result will surely be disappointment. The important thing is not the end result, but that you are doing it.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
STAYING IN THE PRESENT MOMENT
"Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry- all forms of fear- are caused by too much future and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence."
Wow, that says it all! I am definitely posting this on my refrigerator! In two sentences, Tolle elegantly sums up the human condition. I get into trouble the minute I take myself out of the present moment and flirt with either the past or the future. It's one thing to know this on an intellectual level, but quite another to live it.
So how do I translate this to my yoga practice? The beauty of yoga and any kind of purposeful movement is that it keeps me in the present. If I'm fully engaged, physically, it's kind of difficult to start thinking about a resentment from 20 years ago, or when I can get the plumber over to the house to fix the broken water main! However, when I find myself in a particularly challenging pose and the instructor is asking me to hold for what seems to be forever, I do look to the future. When is s/he going to change poses! In that moment, I look to my breath and bring my focus back to the here and now. The breath can take me deeper into a pose, or perhaps help me to ease up a bit. It is a great tool for bringing me back to the present and keeping me out of trouble. When I am able to successfully stay present in my yoga practice, I begin to see the possibility for success in my daily life.
When fear, resentment,and nonforgiveness creep in, I play a little game with myself. First, I connect with my breath. I then bring my attention to exactly what I am doing at that precise moment (eg. my hands are on the steering wheel, I am shifting gears, I am pressing the accelerator, etc.). The breath and the gentle reminder are enough to pull me out of the past/future and bring me back to the present.
Call me simple, but I love to have guidelines for living. Tolle's quote is just that.
Wow, that says it all! I am definitely posting this on my refrigerator! In two sentences, Tolle elegantly sums up the human condition. I get into trouble the minute I take myself out of the present moment and flirt with either the past or the future. It's one thing to know this on an intellectual level, but quite another to live it.
So how do I translate this to my yoga practice? The beauty of yoga and any kind of purposeful movement is that it keeps me in the present. If I'm fully engaged, physically, it's kind of difficult to start thinking about a resentment from 20 years ago, or when I can get the plumber over to the house to fix the broken water main! However, when I find myself in a particularly challenging pose and the instructor is asking me to hold for what seems to be forever, I do look to the future. When is s/he going to change poses! In that moment, I look to my breath and bring my focus back to the here and now. The breath can take me deeper into a pose, or perhaps help me to ease up a bit. It is a great tool for bringing me back to the present and keeping me out of trouble. When I am able to successfully stay present in my yoga practice, I begin to see the possibility for success in my daily life.
When fear, resentment,and nonforgiveness creep in, I play a little game with myself. First, I connect with my breath. I then bring my attention to exactly what I am doing at that precise moment (eg. my hands are on the steering wheel, I am shifting gears, I am pressing the accelerator, etc.). The breath and the gentle reminder are enough to pull me out of the past/future and bring me back to the present.
Call me simple, but I love to have guidelines for living. Tolle's quote is just that.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
GRATITUDE
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
-Melody Beattie-
Every Monday for the past several years, I have spent the afternoon with my elderly mother. The visits have evolved from being in her home, to her moving to assisted living seven months ago, and most recently moving to a memory care facility a month ago. What strikes me every time I visit, is her profound sense of gratitude. She thanks me over and over again for coming to see her. She thanks me for doing her nails and brushing her hair and any small thing that I do. She also compliments and thanks the aides who take care of her, telling them how wonderful they are and how beautiful the facility is. Her gratitude warms my heart and makes me want to do more for her. I see the same with the aides who care for her. This appreciation prompts her caregivers to do more for her and to truly love her. She has the gift of taking any small act of kindness and turning it into a treasure. I am learning by my mother's example that a grateful heart really does have the power to transform.
How can I translate that sense of gratitude to my yoga practice? I start with a sense of gratitude for the body I've been blessed with, aches and all. Next, I look to all the gifts my practice has given me: strength, stamina, flexibility, focus, inner calm. I am grateful I can listen to my body and tailor my practice accordingly. I appreciate that it is not a competition. I am thankful for any changes I experience for the better, however small they may be. I am grateful for my journey through yoga; I have learned so much about myself. When I look at my practice through the eyes of gratitude,I truly do feel the fullness of life. Gratitude has turned my practice into inspiration, and that keeps me coming back for more.
-Melody Beattie-
Every Monday for the past several years, I have spent the afternoon with my elderly mother. The visits have evolved from being in her home, to her moving to assisted living seven months ago, and most recently moving to a memory care facility a month ago. What strikes me every time I visit, is her profound sense of gratitude. She thanks me over and over again for coming to see her. She thanks me for doing her nails and brushing her hair and any small thing that I do. She also compliments and thanks the aides who take care of her, telling them how wonderful they are and how beautiful the facility is. Her gratitude warms my heart and makes me want to do more for her. I see the same with the aides who care for her. This appreciation prompts her caregivers to do more for her and to truly love her. She has the gift of taking any small act of kindness and turning it into a treasure. I am learning by my mother's example that a grateful heart really does have the power to transform.
How can I translate that sense of gratitude to my yoga practice? I start with a sense of gratitude for the body I've been blessed with, aches and all. Next, I look to all the gifts my practice has given me: strength, stamina, flexibility, focus, inner calm. I am grateful I can listen to my body and tailor my practice accordingly. I appreciate that it is not a competition. I am thankful for any changes I experience for the better, however small they may be. I am grateful for my journey through yoga; I have learned so much about myself. When I look at my practice through the eyes of gratitude,I truly do feel the fullness of life. Gratitude has turned my practice into inspiration, and that keeps me coming back for more.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
INTENTION
"In truth, it matters less what we do in practice than how we do it and why we do it. The same posture, the same sequence, the same meditation with a different intention takes on an entirely new meaning and will have entirely different outcomes." -Donna Farhi-
I am often asked why we set an intention at the beginning of every yoga practice. A simple answer is that is gives one a focus to move toward. Paul Dennison, PhD,a brain researcher and the co-founder of the movement based learning system, Educational Kinesiology, coined the phrase "attention follows intention." By taking a moment at the beginning of practice to set an intention, I am bringing my awareness to a particular feeling, movement, pose. It is a way of noticing. Setting an intention is bringing attention to a desired outcome. I may set an intention around feeling peaceful by the end of practice. More than likely, I set that intention because I wasn't feeling peaceful at the start of practice. Perhaps my hip has been bothering me, so I set an intention to gently work out the tightness in my hip. I am setting a goal for something I would like to achieve. Dennison explains that "Like a magnet, intention has the power to draw out of us the qualities we need to reach our goal." (BRAIN GYM(R) AN ME,2006,p.83)
I look at goal setting as a way to maximize my time in practice. As a teacher, my intention is to be clear, well prepared, playful and attentive. I am more apt to accomplish this if I make it my intention to do so.
I am often asked why we set an intention at the beginning of every yoga practice. A simple answer is that is gives one a focus to move toward. Paul Dennison, PhD,a brain researcher and the co-founder of the movement based learning system, Educational Kinesiology, coined the phrase "attention follows intention." By taking a moment at the beginning of practice to set an intention, I am bringing my awareness to a particular feeling, movement, pose. It is a way of noticing. Setting an intention is bringing attention to a desired outcome. I may set an intention around feeling peaceful by the end of practice. More than likely, I set that intention because I wasn't feeling peaceful at the start of practice. Perhaps my hip has been bothering me, so I set an intention to gently work out the tightness in my hip. I am setting a goal for something I would like to achieve. Dennison explains that "Like a magnet, intention has the power to draw out of us the qualities we need to reach our goal." (BRAIN GYM(R) AN ME,2006,p.83)
I look at goal setting as a way to maximize my time in practice. As a teacher, my intention is to be clear, well prepared, playful and attentive. I am more apt to accomplish this if I make it my intention to do so.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
COMMITMENT
I was skiing a few weeks ago and found myself having great difficulty navigating some heavy, chunky, powdery snow. After a few frustrating runs, I ran into an instructor and asked him to give me a tip. "Commit and lean into your boots", was his emphatic reply. I had been skiing very tentatively and wasn't really having much fun. What a difference it made to commit! Up to that point, I wasn't fully in it. I had an immediate attitude shift and, though my legs were exhausted by the end of the day from all that committing, I had fun and more success navigating my way down the hill.
I can take that same advice when it comes to my practice. I can begin by committing to practicing for a couple of minutes every day - maybe I'll do some sun salutations to get me going in the morning or to release tension in the evening. Research shows that it takes about 30 days for something to become a habit. I can set my sites on one month, forgiving myself if I miss a day or two here and there. If I miss a few days, instead of beating myself up, I can recommit the very next day. I want to be committed, but not punishing. To add a twist to the old adage, if at first you don't succeed, commit, commit again! You'll be glad you did.
I can take that same advice when it comes to my practice. I can begin by committing to practicing for a couple of minutes every day - maybe I'll do some sun salutations to get me going in the morning or to release tension in the evening. Research shows that it takes about 30 days for something to become a habit. I can set my sites on one month, forgiving myself if I miss a day or two here and there. If I miss a few days, instead of beating myself up, I can recommit the very next day. I want to be committed, but not punishing. To add a twist to the old adage, if at first you don't succeed, commit, commit again! You'll be glad you did.
Friday, January 15, 2010
ACCEPTANCE
"Acceptance is the magic that makes change possible. It is not forever; it is for the present moment." -Melody Beattie-
If only it were that simple! Each and every day brings new (not always welcome!) opportunities for me to practice acceptance. Generally, my first response is to resist,and fight against the person,situation or thing with which I am struggling. Acceptance does not mean that I have to like what is going on in my life. A wise friend once explained it to me this way: If I went on a picnic and it began to rain, I could sit there and get wet or I could open an umbrella and move to a sheltered area. First, I need to recognize that it is raining before I can come up with a solution. There is no winning if I choose non-acceptance. What I do find however,is frustration, anger and hopelessness.
Acceptance in my yoga practice can serve as a demonstration of acceptance in my life. At the moment that I can accept myself,my limitations and challenges, I begin to relax into my practice. My competitive nature pushes me to "be the best" in my life's endeavors. What I have strived for most of my life is to accept that there will always be people who are more flexible, stronger, faster, etc.,than I. At those moments when I accept my competitive nature, I no longer see myself as wrong, or flawed,or less than. I have then allowed myself the freedom for change to enter into my life. Acceptance opens that door.
If only it were that simple! Each and every day brings new (not always welcome!) opportunities for me to practice acceptance. Generally, my first response is to resist,and fight against the person,situation or thing with which I am struggling. Acceptance does not mean that I have to like what is going on in my life. A wise friend once explained it to me this way: If I went on a picnic and it began to rain, I could sit there and get wet or I could open an umbrella and move to a sheltered area. First, I need to recognize that it is raining before I can come up with a solution. There is no winning if I choose non-acceptance. What I do find however,is frustration, anger and hopelessness.
Acceptance in my yoga practice can serve as a demonstration of acceptance in my life. At the moment that I can accept myself,my limitations and challenges, I begin to relax into my practice. My competitive nature pushes me to "be the best" in my life's endeavors. What I have strived for most of my life is to accept that there will always be people who are more flexible, stronger, faster, etc.,than I. At those moments when I accept my competitive nature, I no longer see myself as wrong, or flawed,or less than. I have then allowed myself the freedom for change to enter into my life. Acceptance opens that door.
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