Yoga is a Practice. You practice by listening to and learning from fellow students & teachers. Everyone in the room is your teacher. Daily practice results in small corrections every day.
Practice life the same way.
Nowness
Fill the vessel
Here’s a tip on breathing.
Try this the next time you take a couple of deep breaths to relax or wind down from exercising.
As you exhale, imagine you are filling a vessel. Inhale deeply into your diaphragm and then slowly exhale. Relax your jaw and shoulders. Feel the floor holding you up. Wriggle your toes. Relax.
The room. The first exhale fills the room. Imagine your breath as a white mist filling every nook and cranny of the room
The house. The second exhale fills all the rooms of the house. Bedroom, bathroom and kitchen touched and infused by the mist.
The neighborhood. The third exhale fills the neighborhood. Down alleys and into back gardens.
The city. The fourth exhale fills the city. Imagine it happening on a map. Imagine the mist swirling through the city streets, between buildings and under cars.
The exercise will slow down your breathing and it’ll turn the practice into something more than exhaling carbon dioxide.
No Mind Left Behind
Whether it’s a morning run, an evening yoga session or a walk around the block to ‘clear your head’ – remember to bring your mind with you. We have a tendency to leave it behind thinking about money, relationships, plans, the past day and all the things we have to do.
You know the look, you are talking to someone but their eyes are somewhere else, they aren’t engaged because their mind isn’t there…it’s somewhere else thinking through other stuff.
When your mind is with you and in the moment then it’s ‘all in’ and engaged.
Next time you walk out the house and grab your keys, remember to take everything – including your mind.
Be Real
It isn’t how you are made. It’s a thing that happens to you.
Being Real hurts sometimes, but when you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.
It takes a long time, and you got to be tough and persevere.
When you are real, you are beautiful.
* * *
It’s said best in The Velveteen Rabbit:
“Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’
‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit.
‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’
‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’
‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
― Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
Change the Universe
The mystic and poet William Blake asks us to see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of our hand and eternity in an hour.
The entire universe is inside all of us. The entire universe changes when we change. Everything in existence feels the ripple of our development because we are all part of the whole. That’s a radical and powerful realization.
In today’s world, we get up every day and have interactions where there are opportunities to grow. Interactions with our kids, spouse, friends, work colleagues, pets, cars, nature – EVERY moment is an opportunity to grow and change the universe. Wow.
William Blake and Gandhi were onto the same thing. Gandhi said ’Be the change you want to see in the world’. Here’s my spin on that quote – Be the change you want to see in the Universe.
Now get out there and change the Universe.
The space between the notes
Music is the space between the notes. From Mozart to Adele, it comes down to the pauses and inhalations, which allows the music to flourish.
Breaks and a breath in life are the same thing. Whether it’s first thing in the morning or before a meeting. Stop, pause and breathe – then ACT. Let your music play.
Fly
What will our children do in the morning if they do not see us fly? – Rumi
Sometimes you only miss it when you do it
The less I do something, the less I miss it.
Paddling out for a surf on a winter’s day. The water is dark blue and cold. I’m warm in my car sipping some coffee. I fight the urge to drive away. Only after the first duck dive and feeling the salt water hit my face do I miss the feeling of being in the water
Waking up early for a morning run. The first few minutes out in the wild are the hardest. I’m talking myself into turning around and heading home. Then something magical happens after the first mile. I started to look forward and forget about what’s behind me. My body loosens up and I start to smell the morning.
Yoga first thing in the morning. I’d rather be sleeping or getting a jump start on the day. My body resists the first stretch and the inner dialogue comes up with reasons why I should rather cut it short, shower and check my phone. Only after the first three stretches do I get into the groove and am grateful that I overcame the initial inertia.
Leaving my phone at home when I go for a hike. Initially I have phantom phone syndrome. Even though I don’t have my phone I can still feel it vibrating in my pocket. Only once I’m far away from the roads and deep in the trails do I disconnect and am reminded of how good it feels to be free from the likes, hearts, pings, retweets and favorites.
The ego is crafty and will seduce you into the path of least resistance. Feelings fade the longer you are away from something. Overcome the inertia and all resistance crumbles.
Start now
Small adjustments add up.
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way” -Martin Luther King Jr.
Crazy talk
“But we’re never gonna survive, unless
We get a little crazy
No we’re never gonna survive, unless
We are a little crazy”– SEAL
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.– ALICE IN WONDERLAND – LEWIS CARROLL
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