20-Breath Practice

October 27, 2021 at 5:49 pm (In My Backyard)
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Balance…that beautiful internal place where effort and surrender are in harmony. When you feel on your game, peaceful and content, satisfied and fulfilled, energized yet calm, alert and well-rested, body systems are working well, and breath flows with ease – all within the circumstances and current conditions you are in (even if they are chaotic, uncertain, weird). A feeling where you need no more and no less; sometimes a brief momentary feeling and sometimes a blissfully extended period of time. For many of us, we have been living so far away from balance on a regular basis that even though we recognize the imbalance, it is SO HARD to return to a state of harmony. We wait for something external to bring us there, or we blame the imbalance on the external, or we fail to acknowledge the very things we are doing to ourselves that bring us out of balance. Balance is not an end-state, nor is it a permanent state, but more a fluid dance of yin and yang from moment to moment. We can be off kilter for a bit then back in the centre, then off again, and back again. How do we stay closer to the centre and less off balance for longer?

Paying attention and noticing how you FEEL is the key to finding your own state of balance. Observing patterns and impulses and tendencies while being open and compassionate and kind to yourself. Before you can let GO you have to notice and let BE…gently. The mantra that has been in the forefront of my mind lately is “Hold it lightly” thanks to the book, “Emotional Agility” by Susan David. Sometimes we attach ourselves to those things that we desperately want to let go of… so if we acknowledge what we are holding on to, then willingly loosen the grip and hold it all lightly, maybe we create space for those unwanted things to seemingly just float away. And then the scales tip so balance can be restored. That’s what I am noticing…

Here is a short slow-flow standing practice I’ve been experimenting with and it really seems to help balance me. Maybe it will be helpful for you, too! It is simple and basic; moves the spine in all directions; helps to stretch the whole body; is gentle enough to do in the evening when you are winding down; you can make it more active to be an energizing morning routine; it encourages you to breathe and move in sync; and you could even modify it to be done from a chair. Try it for a week or more…and see what you think. Returning to balance is a lifetime practice and individual to each of us. Each time you return to YOUR centre, SMILE!

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RINSE AND REPEAT

October 13, 2021 at 1:15 pm (In My Backyard)
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Well Yoga Friends, it’s been awhile since I’ve felt like writing or teaching or even rolling around on my yoga mat. Some days have been solely about breathing and BEING and feeling…oh God so much feeling. For many of us, it may have felt like our worlds have turned upside down and inside out over the last weeks, months, year, and perhaps continue to be challenging. Some things are so vivid in our short-term memory – happy memories from way back with a longing to return to “what we had”; or maybe haunting memories have resurfaced and now we have to deal with them or push them back down. Overthinking and underthinking and incorrect thinking. When is it OVER? But then again, is it really ever over? Keeping up with the ever-evolving, sometimes too fast or too slow pace of change has not been easy in this pandemic, for ANYONE.

Our stories may have different details, and the challenges vary from small, persistent daily stuff to really big scary experiences. What is common to all of us is that SHIT HAS HAPPENED and it is for certain that more shit will happen because that is the nature of life.

So what do you do when your life feels like it is soiled, messy, wrinkled, stepped on, etc.? How about going back to your life toolbox and pull out the practices that work: RINSE those toxins away in your heart/mind/body by finding a healthy way to get them out; move and breathe and feel and allow; acknowledge what IS by sitting with IT; accept that sadness, fear, loss, and anger are part of life as much as happiness, contentment, blessings, and calm; really ask yourself how you are contributing to your own misery and change it; reach out for a helping hand; slow down and clear your plate so you can HEAR your internal messages; get on your yoga mat and surrender (not resign); and so on and so on. Then REPEAT…over and over again.

Yoga is UNION…the uniting of opposites…the dance of clean and dirty. Relishing the yummy stuff, and navigating the yucky stuff without getting attached to either one. My current RINSE cycle includes lots of water and hydration, cleaning up my diet, moving every day, reaching out. And it is okay to go for a few days in the same yoga pants and stained hoodie and messy gone-grey hair because the rinse cycle will be REPEATED.

If you are willing to RINSE AND REPEAT with me on the yoga mat, I invite you to join my online yoga class called “MID-WEEK YOGA MIX” via ZOOM on Wednesdays, starting Oct. 20, 2021. This is an 8-week session from 7:30 – 8:30 pm with the intention of gently working out some kinks in the body and mind. We will breathe and move and meditate in different ways each week, and wind down the day together. COST for the 8-week session is $108 by e-transfer (non-refundable). Email me at yogaimby@gmail.com to register.

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