In Between

     

In between . . . 

             Christmas and New Year's

    items on your to do list

    day and night

    poses on the mat.

In between, a pause is available.  

What do you do in between?

Within this moment, you can be as long as you desire.  

A moment when you become one with the pause.

Capture the stillness.  Notice. . . behind the stillness is balance.  Balance is where equanimity  resides.

So in this time between the holidays, I am reminded to pause and embrace the equanimity that is available.  

So pause.  Be still.  Be present for this moment.  Take it in and absorb all that is available for you.  

Be in between, before going to the next.

What are you practicing...on and off the mat?

What are you practicing in your body?
How are you holding your body?
Are you clinging or letting go?

What are you practicing in your breath?
How are you breathing?
Where do you feel yourself breathing?

What are you practicing in your thoughts these days?
Are they caring thoughts filled with compassion and
Butterfly wings fluttering through your mind?

What are you practicing in your thinking this moment?
Is it necessary to think this right now?
Is it true?
Is it kind?
Does it serve you?
Are you thinking too much?  Too fast?

What are practicing in your wisdom mind?
Are you dwelling here enough and
Discovering the abundance of wisdom within you?

What are you practicing in your way of being these days?
Are you rushing from place to place or thing to thing?
Are you cutting people off?
Are you generous and allow others to go before you?
Do you share and freely offer your portion of what's given?

What are you practicing in your spiritual self; in the space where
Your true essence dwells?
Can you linger here awhile?
Feel the auspicious essence of you.
The essence of starlight and all that is exquisite;
Grace, Love, Bliss.
Be here, in this space.  Practice.
Practice seeing You in you.

2018

Journal Entry, 1/1/2018

I avoided this all day.  "This" is taking time to pause, mediate and journal.  I avoided it… doing everything but sitting and then writing.  Avoided beginning again.  Avoided by cleaning the kitty litter, putting away Christmas decorations, watering plants, cleaning, and writing checks for paying bills.  This last one required that I write my first 2018. 

However, the first writing of 2018 was on a check and not in my journal.  And this helped me to get on my mat…to pause, to meditate and to write.  The writing of the new year makes it real.

2018.  There are lots of curves and rounded lines with no angles.  Maybe this portends a smooth ride for this year with a chance to see ahead since there are no corners.  Yet, there are loops and circles to navigate where you begin and return to where you started, allowing second chances and a third, if needed.  There is one single line to remind us of the oneness of it all.  And, infinity is there as well, so we remember that we are boundless…we are limitless.

2018.  I’m excited about all the possibilities, the infinite options that are available to each of us.  We have this breath and each breath to connect and allow the unveiling of within.  And the within is endless.  Explore You in 2018.

Walking On Glass

Watching the praying mantis walk across the window; she on the outside, I’m on the inside; I had a perspective unique to more typical points of view.  She seemed unaware I was so close and yet, she seemed to look right at me.  She seemed to see me, too.  Her delicate steps and swaying movements to counter the wind blowing against her fragile body were remarkable to witness.  Perfect balance.  She glided along as if skating so high above the earth. 

I remember years ago walking on the Skywalk, a glass walkway 4,000 feet above the Grand Canyon.  At first, walking alone in the middle. Then quickly recognizing my uncertainty and need to hold onto the rail.  Stepping so very carefully with great care.  We wore cloth slippers over our shoes so not to scratch the glass walkway.  This added to the feeling of vulnerability and desire for secure footing.

Our life experiences and the unexpected surfaces upon which we find ourselves may sometimes feel as if we’re walking on glass.  We know we need to tread carefully while we renew our balance and sure footing.  So how?  What allows for strength to emerge when all seems so breakable? 

Watching the praying mantis, I witnessed her strength at holding on.  She moved slowly, yet she was persistent in her efforts.  She adjusted to the pressures of wind as she stepped precisely and accurately. 

As I ventured along the Skywalk and holding onto the rail, I realized the unsteadiness in my legs and feet matched my uneasy breath.  I paused…waited for my breath to still and calm, and then legs and feet to steady.  Then I moved on.   

What allows for strength when all seems so breakable?  For me, breath is key.  With breath, the steadiness returns.  With breath, uncertainty transforms into knowing.  Vulnerability lessens as confidence emerges with each breath and each step forward.   Move with breath... allow the breath to bring clarity and strength as you walk each path… glass or otherwise.

No Shoulds

Should I?  It should be this way.  I shouldn’t do that. 

The psychologist, Albert Ellis, suggested to his clients, “Don’t should on yourself or others.”

The inner chatter and ongoing conversations within are filled with shoulds about the past, present and future.  We create the story about how things were, how things are supposed to be, and how things are going to be.  Expectations of the way things should have been and should be are layered over past, present, and future experiences. 

Yoga dissolves the mental chatter and ruminations.  Yoga teachings in Pantanjali’s Yoga Sutras 1:1 – 1:4 reveal that with humility and practice, we calm the chatter within and join the stillness of the present moment.  We unite breath and movement, we connect our mind and heart, and we yoke awareness to this moment.  We discover and remember who we are and what is true for now.  Stillness and Grace emerge and we know all is right. 

That’s another reason I practice yoga.  

   

Have a “YES! Day”

When our son was growing up, we had “YES! Day.”  Not every day.  And sometimes it was not for a whole day.  We maybe had a “YES! Half-Day” or a "YES! Hour."  I’ve come to understand that these times were extraordinary and freeing for me.  As a full-time working mom, I was often caught up in the all-powerful and demanding schedule.  Time was planned and delineated.  So that when I was asked if I could do something, my initial internal answer would be “No.”  I just didn’t go to “Yes” at first response.  I thought “No” before “Yes.”  So that when there was a “YES! Day,” it was so amazing.  It was freeing and exhilarating to say “Yes” without a thought or justification.  There was a feeling of abundance where all is possible.

Our son and I just played and did whatever he asked during a “YES! Day or Hour.”  I remember this one particular day when he and I were both home together since schools were closed.  We were having breakfast and I asked, “What do you want to do today?”  He said, “Go to the White House.”  I answered, “YES! Let’s go!”  And that is how our day began.  We rode the metro, we walked, we laughed, we played, and we did whatever he asked.  We went to the White House.  We went to the FBI Headquarters.  We went to the Smithsonian Institution.  We ate.  We got tired.  We came home.  Each part of our “YES! Day” was filled with the abundance of knowing all is available, all is possible, and all is within reach. 

As I began my journey and study of Yoga, I became increasingly aware of how this concept of abundance is experienced in my thinking, feeling, and physical bodies.  Yoga brought the understanding of abundance and scarcity mentality as described by Stephen R. Covey, to all aspects or layers of my practice.  Saying “Yes” to something does mean saying “No” to another.  My practice has not been to say “Yes” to everything or everyone.  My practice is to notice and be aware if I go to “No” without considering, discerning, allowing the possibility of “Yes.”  This is where abundance grows and opens…in that ever-so-slight pause before answering or deciding. 

On the mat, this means that I practice “Yes” to what is possible within each posture, each breath.  When thoughts of “No” come in, I pause to determine if this is an old response or habit of thinking.  More often, a new choice is revealed.  A choice of saying “Yes” to being in this moment and experiencing all that is abundantly available in the pose, in breath, and in spirit.  Taking “Yes” off the mat is a practice of observing initial reactions to challenges or the unexpected.  Noticing how thinking, feeling, and physical bodies respond.  Finding the abundance in a situation and not responding from a place of scarcity.  The practice is creating a pause to breathe and to be aware that abundance is found in the stillness.  The practice is knowing that abundance allows and reveals opportunities for actions, reactions, and more than we can imagine possible. 

At the White House

Notice the Changes

Observing nature allows for so many lessons.  Spring shows us how life again unfolds and is new.  The plants and trees that appeared to be so lifeless in winter, are abundant with new growth and bursting with color.  The seasons and life cycle of plants and animals that surround us are reminders of the changes that are always occurring.  Life does not stand still.  It moves, changes, evolves, adapts, transforms, and ends.  It begins again, a new way emerges, and the cycle continues. 

Yoga teaches us the same.  Our experience on the mat is unique to each and every practice.  Each Tadasana (Mountain Pose) is new and unique each time we step on the mat. And this uniqueness is with each pose, each time we practice.  We are not the same as yesterday and will not be the same tomorrow.  We are extraordinary exquisite expressions of nature each day.  So, what is it that you wish to be?  Bring this wish to your mat.  Practice what you desire on your mat and watch it grow, observe it blossom, and notice as it becomes you.  Then…watch it emerge off the mat.

How?  Choose an action that you wish to invoke in your practice.  For example, having an easeful breath within more difficult postures.  Then begin.  Watch your breath as you move, within your postures, between your poses, and when you forget… start again.  Practice taking it off the mat.  Pick a situation that brings tension within your muscles; driving or waiting in line.  You can change this to be more favorable with an easeful breath.  Inhale one, two, three, four…exhale one, two, three, four.  Breathe again with ease, softness, and slow.  Observe what is different.  Notice what changed. 

Remembering that life moves, vibrates, and changes as it should makes me smile.  It “is what it is” in this moment.  The next moment will be different.  And the auspicious part is that You are a miracle of life, of nature, and the ocean of energy and vibration that is all and everything.  What is your desire? How will you begin?  You can choose.

Lovely Spring