Pause. Feel this breath. Then ask yourself this...
Stop. Pause. Feel this breath.Then ask yourself this...
I have been noticing that my relationship to time and the way I use it is in need of shift. I often feel crushed by the weight of my To Do List and overwhelmed by a super packed calendar. {Oh, you too?} No matter that I actively chose and love every single thing on my To Do list and calendar. {I feel very lucky for that.}AND YET, when I have free time I feel worried that I’m not using it well and have a lot of trouble enjoying it. I think I have a subconscious belief that I don’t have enough money and I’m not skinny enough so until I have more money in the bank and finally feel thin enough {any day now...I’m sure}, I don’t really get to rest and relax. Trust me-- I know how crazy that sounds-- and I feel shy to share that with you here. But I think this is a really common way of being in the world, so I thought it might help you if I said it outloud. Not enough money and too many curves are my things; I’m sure you have your own stuff that you don’t have enough of or you have too much of. I find that sharing some of what a less mature part of me perceives as shortcomings helps to lessen their power.I know that what I need to practice is a more mature way of being with and taking care of myself. A way that includes and most importantly allows more rest and space, just because. I keep learning this lesson over and over again. I hope/think the learning integrates more deeply each round.As I was pondering this dilemma and planning for my Friday group classes......my Inner Mentor offered me these questions,
What could I do right now to help me feel more settled? What can I do right now to help me feel more expansive? What could I do right now to help me feel more connected to myself?
I brought these questions into my group yoga classes, and I think my students found them really helpful.
What could I shift in the way I’m holding my body to help me feel more settled?What could I shift in the way I am breathing to help me feel more expansive?What do I need to shift in my self talk, to help me feel more connected to myself in an intimate and loving way?
I don’t think coming up with answers to these questions is all that important. I think simply practicing asking the questions can be life giving and presence shifting.I offer these questions to you and your students as well. What could you shift right now, in your body, breath and mind to help you feel more settled and expansive? And I would love to hear from you...comment below and let me know how that lands with you.