My Yoga Journey

This winter, I began feeling the blues pretty early on.  Things were busy and I was spread way too thin.  Part of this was due to the hustle and bustle of the holidays and my inner desire to see everyone and please them.  I found myself slipping back into old habits very quickly.  This meant I began gaining weight, my positive self-image waned, and I felt very lethargic and grossly unmotivated.

Then my yoga teacher training happened.  It has been something I have wanted to do for several years since moving here to Ohio.  It is finally coming to fruition.  With it, I have begun to find my way back into positive, energetic living.  I have established a regular yoga practice. This is a good thing because it will help with both my weight loss as well as tone my muscles, help me be healthier and inspire healthy eating habits.  I have begun to teach yoga as a fledgling and this means I am being social and making new social connections as well as re-establishing old ones.  I have reconnected with the outdoors.  This was a big one. I used to go outside all the time, but the cold, frigid temperatures seemed to make it a lot harder for me to choose to go for walks.  (Part of that though, is also the fact that I'm no longer adjacent to a beautiful set of woods to meander through.)

Through all of that, I have rekindled the spark or tapas within.  Tapas is the sanskrit word for the inner fire that is the source of motivation and drive.  I'm glad that I have found this within me again.  It has been awhile since I've been in touch with it.  I hope to continue to deepen my understanding of yoga as well as myself.


Namaste

Creativity as a Cure

Lately, I've been feeling like my legs are made of iron.  I can't seem to get moving.  When I get home I typically study, work on work-related things (and believe me there is a ton that I have to do on my own time) and I watch television.  I have been stuck in this rut for a couple of weeks now.  I think the worst part of this new routine I've found myself in is that I've been eating when I watch television.

I am a compulsive stress eater.  If I feel stressed then I eat.  I have found myself gaining weight as a result of the choices I've been making.  It hit me when I realized that I am undoing all the hard work and effort that I put into losing weight and living healthier.

What is a girl to do then?  Forgive herself first and foremost.  It took doing my yoga practice this morning (which I haven't been able to successfully do for more than 15 or so minutes) which lasted 45 minutes to realize this.  The focus was on the opening of the heart.  I worked on repetitive motions that were cleansing to the body.  All the while, I focused on the patterns that I wanted to rid myself of.  I was able to then let go of the negative routine and thoughts I had been living.

I decided that I needed to cleanse my kitchen of things that were not conducive to a healthy lifestyle for me.  I realized that I have complete control of what enters my body as well as my kitchen.  Then I went to the best place I could think of (that was local) to buy foods that my body needed.  Earthfare.  I love that place.  The moment I walked through I could already feel the sense of renewal.  I found fresh fruits and vegetables and bought some fresh beef to make a meatloaf for myself.  No more pre-packaged foods for me for awhile.  If I want it, then I will make it.  There is something cleansing and so satisfying about consuming the foods you create.

Which leads me to my next realization--creativity.  I revisited the Naturally Slim program that I participated in over a year ago.  It was a great program that enlightened me and helped me to kickstart my weight loss.  I never stopped drinking my H2orange beverage (a simple concoction of 1 part orange juice to 7 parts water and for me, crystal light).  One of the other principles that NS introduced me to was the fact that there are 7 Vital Needs that we need to have fulfilled in order to be content.  One of my Vital Needs is creativity.  I haven't been satisfying that need at all.  So today, I enjoyed finishing my Ohio painting and then I drew Syrah.  It was so nice to spend some time to do that.  I feel so rejuvenated.

The lesson here: spend some time doing something creative, move and connect with my Self, and eat only when hungry.

Writing

Even from a very young age, I had the dream of writing a novel and publishing it.  Since elementary school I've written stories.  My teachers always lauded me for my creativity and desire for using simple spelling words and weaving them into a story.  It seemed that they derived some pleasure from my little stories.

Unfortunately, those little stories were the only ones I ever finished.  As I learned to use the computer and type up stories I would be struck with inspiration that would lead me to spend most of my free time writing.  Then in the midst of one idea I would catch hold of another one and abandon the first.  This was the cycle with which I have struggled with for many years.  6 years ago I began a rather epic story and I stuck with it for quite some time and whenever I'd have another idea surface I'd stop writing altogether in the hopes that it would go away.  Sadly, this is the reason I haven't written anything in the last 3 years.

I have had many inspiring thoughts to begin anew with my writings, but I am almost fearful of being doomed to repeat the cycle.  I do not want to invest myself in the characters and then throw them by the wayside because another interesting thought or idea comes along.

So now, I am left with a burning passion to write and a great fear of failing in doing so.  What should I do, I wonder?  I have decided that it would be better to fail in doing so than to not do so at all.  There have been people in my past who have read my work and demanded me write more because they had to find out what happened next.  There have been those critics that have basically told me my writing is crap and my form is all wrong.  Clearly there is something for me to be done.  I can basically thrill and put off people with my work.  It's actually a rather amusing thought.

I begin then with something new.  I will walk the path towards my dream.  

Vision without action is just a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world. --Joel Barker

Just Breathe

I have been following through with my intention.  Last night I spend a glorious amount of time immersing myself in reading for pleasure.  It has been so long since I've been able to just sit and read with no other purpose in mind other than for me.  I got to connect and check in for myself.

Sometimes we take the concept of "me time" for granted.  We truly do need to check in with ourselves and just let everything else go.  There's always something on the To-Do list.  It can wait.  There's always deadlines. So plan ahead.  I'm feeling overwhelmed.  Slow down.  I think the latter is the hardest for me to do.  It is then that I turn towards the one influence that I can listen to.  He always knows what to say and how to get me to re-center and focus myself.  I am thankful to him; he always listens to me even when I screech, moan, groan and gripe.  Thank you.  You know who you are.

I'm not much of a planner either.  My life has always been a more spontaneous affair.  I love to tell myself, "I'm just going to get up and do this today."  So when things get to be very structured and planned out, I have a tendency to feel uncomfortable and then I don't schedule the important me-time.  I see the merit of planning, but I need to schedule the spontaneous me-time in there somewhere.

Tonight I checked in to my personal yoga practice.  It was 30 minutes of pure heaven as I turned inward.  I was able to focus on my breath tonight.  I had some light music playing which helped me flow into my poses naturally.  I found myself wanting to strive for feeling every breath, every movement.  I wanted to grip the mat and just be.  It was bliss.  There were no deadlines, no to-do's, no have to's or need to's.  It was just me--my breath, my heart, my soul.

“Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak.”

― Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, The 11 Karmic Spaces: Choosing Freedom from the Patterns That Bind You

Focus

Well, it's a brand new year and we're already 20 days into it.  Doesn't it feel like the New Year was so long ago?  I think that may be because I'm so focused on keeping up with work and school that I've lost focus on the important things like what I'm doing with myself.

Have you ever had the sudden realization that too much focus is a bad thing?  I've lost sight of some of the things that are important to me and who I am.  Mainly, I've lost sight of myself.  For the last few weeks I've been pouring myself into my job and the children that I teach.  There has been a lot of changes happening at work that have caused me to be concerned that I am not doing enough.  So what did I do?  I immersed myself into work 100%.  It wasn't until recently that I realized that by doing so I've been eating more, eating more processed foods, exercising less and even meditating less.

Even more, I've forgotten to immerse myself in the things that I love to do -- creative things.  I haven't done any drawings or paintings.  I haven't written anything for recreation in I don't know how long.  I don't read books for pleasure.  I don't play the flute anymore, which I was so excited about when I had the opportunity to be a part of a band.  I haven't done yoga since I came back from vacation and yoga has been a huge part of my reformation a long time ago; it is a part of my life, but that part of me has been on hiatus as of late.

Now, with the recent addition of class to my list of things to do, I'm afraid.  I worry that I won't have any time to do the things that are restorative and healing for me. This also includes spending time with friends.  Sometimes I feel like I get so caught up in the things I HAVE to do that I neglect the things I NEED to do.  It's part of the reason I shy away from going back to the band that I was a part of.  It was fun to participate in a group like that.  It was fun to play the flute again and have a purpose for it.  However, it put stress on the fragile schedule that I had to maintain as practicing the music was important so too are lesson plans, documentation on children and class work.

So, my intention after all of this is:

Be present in the moment and show up for myself.

"Where are you going? What are you afraid of? Cross the bridge and take the risk." -- Pepita Mardeusz

Spending our lives...

So here it is.  The end of a vacation.  How is it that it somehow takes forever to come, but as soon as it is here it flies by before we even realize it?  Is that what is feels like to be fully immersed in something and enjoy every moment?  It is strange that we so often take for granted small moments of our day to day lives.  Why aren't we able to enjoy the entirety of our lives?

As previously mentioned in a different blog, I think it stems from constantly looking toward the future.  I recently saw a Facebook post that read: "Tomorrow (noun):  a mystical land where 99% of human productivity, motivation and achievement are stored."  I think this is quite true.  Too often we say that we will do something tomorrow or tomorrow is a new day.  This leaves us with the idea that today doesn't really matter because tomorrow is where it will all happen.

It saddens me to realize that for the last several years of my life, I have been looking forward to tomorrow without living appropriately and fully through today.  I don't like that I wait to do things that I want to do because I am too tired or I have responsibilities to handle.  Time is of the essence and it's time to ensure that I don't regret not living today!

Being present

Today I discovered the joy of being present.  I know that I went on a lot last entry about where time goes on the weekdays and why we seem to be wishing our lives away.  This is the point.  Today, I made sure to be present in every moment of my free time after I left work.  It made such a difference.

First, I chose to keep my blood pressure down by working out.  It was awesome to feel my body work.  How often do we do that; actually feel what we're doing?  I think sometimes we take for granted that our bodies DO everything for us.  After taking an hour to appreciate what I can do, I drove home.

At this point, I was able to feel the change in temperature as the storm front moved in.  It was amazing!  And then I saw the above scene as I rounded the corner to head home.  A break in the top layer of clouds allowed sunlight to shine brightly on the second layer of billowy clouds.  It was quite the sight.  My poofy Ohio clouds!  I stopped to appreciate them with my own eyes as well as snap a photograph which certainly doesn't do it justice!

After that I came home and took a shower.  Once again, I took a moment to feel the way the water felt.  Sure, we realize that water can be warm (so long as the water heater didn't flip the surge box).  But have you ever stood there and felt the water as it disturbed every hair follicle as it trickled it's way down to the shower floor?  It was awesome!

After that I realized, whoa!  I have a lot of time.  That 6 hours is quite plentiful if you're present for it.  The moral of today's story...try to be present and live each moment to the fullest.