Outlaw @ 7 am. Be present. Be mindful. Instead of resistance, practice surrender. Not giving up... surrender. The push and pull of the world and situations and relationships. If you are pushing too hard, the world will push back. Let it go, surrender and then come back to it. You are enough.
This project is a ... project. A very big project. And I obviously am not able to blog every day so I write little notes to myself to remind me of whatever happened. Monday morning Outlaw is quickly becoming one of my favorites. The instructor is AWESOME. Total biker dude who teaches yoga. And he has SO MUCH ENERGY at 7 am, it can be a little frightening. I love it though. I really really do. Getting exposed to that kind of energy early on Monday morning is part of why it is so awesome. He talked a lot about when we try to force situations to work or happen a certain way and then the world just pushes back and sometimes we just need to back off, step away and then come back to it. Totally usual, high-energy class that left me feeling ready to take on the day!
Yin to Outlaw Yang
Don't resist. Don't insist.
I also tried Yin later on Monday. Totally opposite types of classes. Like COMPLETE opposite. Yin is slower and you hold the poses longer. Like a step or two above Restorative. One of the things the teacher kept saying was "Don't resist, don't insist". Apparently, I needed to hear more about resistance on Monday... And surrender. I started thinking about surrender. And I think a lot of people associate surrender with giving up. And I don't believe that. Giving up is quitting completely. Surrender... Sweet surrender... is different. It is releasing control, letting someone or something else handle things for a bit and having a bit of faith, until you are ready to get back to it. Surrender has a lot to do with acceptance as well. In the body, it is identifying what is tight and sore and perhaps surrendering to an easier variation. In the mind, it is identifying the emotions, the feelings, and just feeling them for a little bit before moving on if those feelings do not serve you. Or deepening the emotion if it does serve you. Embracing it tighter. Having faith that a situation will turn out for the best.
Day 42... Hatha in the morning, Outlaw at night, L-Handstand practice at home.
Outlaw... be mindful of procrastination. The vision is getting clearer and clearer and more and more possible.
I was not really a fan of the Hatha class I took. Just wasn't feeling it for some reason. In the afternoon, I practiced a couple L-Handstands at home. On my couch. It is helping me get more and more comfortable with my shoulders being over my hands.
In Outlaw, the theme was procrastination. Something I am very familiar with. The lesson, the challenge, was to be more mindful of when you are doing it. Maybe figuring out why. And then doing the thing you are procrastinating. Oh, and one of my friends came to try it with me! She does a lot of yoga but it was fun to do it together. She liked it. I hope she'll come some more.
Also, I shared my vision with two of the teachers. About opening my own studio and teaching to underprivileged kids and women's shelters. And one thing led to the next and I learned about a 7 day intensive Level 1 Outlaw training in Iowa in May. So yea... I'm doing that. Totally committed. Like non-refundable deposit committed. And I am really REALLY EXCITED. So yes, my vision is getting clearer and clearer and things are lining up.
Day 43... Vinyasa... Yoga is the cultivation of a heightened sense of self observation (self awareness)
Part 2... Everything is connected. Love is energy.
Wednesday is one of my favorite yoga days. I get to start it with my favorite teacher. And I ended up ending the day with one of his classes as well. And I found out that he may officially take over the Monday/Wednesday evening classes. Which made me very happy. But anyway, his mantra for the morning was that yoga is the cultivation of a heightened sense of self observation. Which I really loved and connected with. Self observation is awesome. And really important to a happy life. And I sometimes switched it to self awareness. Regardless, there is no analysis in either of those states. Simply observation. Simply awareness. What you do with it is up to you but too much analysis on why you feel one way or another can be detrimental to your mental well being. At least that is what I am finding. The amount of presence I am experiencing lately has been really good. And interesting. I find myself having thoughts, sometimes negative and sometimes positive and being able to pause and figure out whether they are serving me or not. If they are, I celebrate them! If they are not, I create a new thought that is positive and celebrate that!
The Wednesday night mantra was that everything is connected. We concluded the class with a really interesting recording about Yosemite National Park. It started with how there were issues with the earth (like erosion and such) because the deer population was getting to be too big but then some wolves moved into the area and everything changed. Erosion stopped, more animals moved into the area, foliage grew more freely and rivers flowed. It was really an amazing thing to listen to and reinforced that everything is in fact connected.
Also, I watched one of the girls kick up to a handstand for like a second, which was awesome! We also had more of a community class... Like we held hands while doing balancing poses such as Tree Pose. It was interesting. I really enjoy the focus on community at most of the classes I go to. One of the main reasons I keep going is the community feeling actually... working from home has made me somewhat more reclusive even though I feel like I am talking to people all the time, most of the time it is on the phone or through Facebook.
Day 44... Kind HOT - Mindfulness, Time Article; Outlaw... Valentine's Day is what you make it. It can be a day devoted to self-love or self-pity. Or it can just be another day. So so grateful. You are enough. You are strong enough. Beautiful enough. Happy enough.
Thursday evening Kind Hot was all about mindfulness and a recent Time article that discusses the subject of being mindful in our crazy, stressed world (Can be found here). The beginning of the article talks about eating a raisin, but eating it mindfully. Apparently there is something called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). I think it could be called yoga, but that is just my opinion. Psychology Today defines Mindfulness as "a state of active, open attention on the present. When you're mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience." Well said, PT, well said.
Following Kind Hot was Outlaw. And it was one of the best yet. Not only because I put down my deposit for Level 1 Teacher training in May but also because she spoke about a lot of the issues that people have with Valentine's Day and that there are about 3 different ways to take it. You can ignore it and act like it is just another day. You can wallow in self-pity because you're single (or if your significant other didn't do what you wanted them to). Or you can celebrate in self-love. Which is what I decided I wanted to do. So I decided to do three yoga classes on Valentine's Day. Epitome of self-love. Some feelings started to come up in Final Savasana as well. Today it was gratitude. I have actually been overcome with immense gratitude a couple times lately. And it is one of the best feelings in the world. I even posted about being in absolute LOVE with the Universe. Which is definitely still true. I love the Universe.
Also, Justin, the co-founder of Outlaw, was in class and it was really awesome to see how excited he was for me to join teacher training. Excited and supportive of what I want to do with it. Just a great feeling. It was kind of funny realizing that I am becoming the person I have always wanted to be. I remember thinking earlier today or this week something along the lines of "who told you that you are not cool enough to be a yoga teacher, to reach that upper echelon of awesome that surrounds yoga teachers in your mind? Who told you that you can't be the best yogini that you can be?" And I felt something start to change. That feeling that I am enough. I am cool enough. I am strong enough. I am brave enough. I am bold enough. I am liked and loved enough. I have enough of what I need to do all the things that I want to do. I'm curious to see what comes up for me during teacher training since I have done so much personal development lately.
Day 45... Kind HOT Music - Self-love
Vinyasa - Self love
Vinyasa - The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference. It's not caring, not feeling so love is feeling. The ability to feel.
Oh Valentine's Day... Three classes... done. Lots of talk about love. LOTS. And I was good for the first two classes. I was actually good for all three but something happened after the third. A release of emotion as I was rolling up my mat. I'm just grateful I was the only one in the studio and everyone else was in the lobby. I am still unsure what emotion it was exactly... sadness or loneliness maybe. A bit of missing lost loved ones. Regardless, it took me a good 5 - 10 minutes to get my mat rolled up and pull myself together. Emotions are not meant to be controlled. They are meant to be experienced. It is how we deal with many of the things that have happened in our lives. I just have to keep remembering that.
Ok, first class was Kind HOT Music. All about taking time for ourselves and self-love. We can't love anyone if we don't love ourselves first. It was a good class. I talked to the teacher a little after about doing three classes in one day and then I saw her at my noon class.
The noon class was fun. We danced to Pharrell's "Happy" in the middle of class. There were a few Outlaws in class too so that was fun. More talk about self-love. I felt like that would be a common theme as many people see their time on their yoga mats as time for themselves so it was reinforcing that principle. It was fun and a little more crowded than I was expecting.
Friday evening... Vinyasa. Considering that some emotion started coming up the night before, I should have probably expected it to come up again. Especially after trying to be as strong as I was all day. I am not a fan of Valentine's day. And it has nothing to do with whether I am single or not. That's just how I am. I am trying to make it better but anyway... off on a tangent again. So back to yoga... It was good. All girls in class which somehow did not surprise me at all. We sat around and talked for awhile... it was a fun class. I'm not really sure where the emotion came from. But the mantra was basically that the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference. It's not caring. Therefore, love is caring, love is feeling. And feeling those emotions is a way of loving myself. Allowing myself to feel the emotions. And then to care for myself when they leave me feeling tired.
Day 46... Outlaw - happiness; Vinyasa - Acceptance
I was not planning on doing back to back classes.... but it ended up that way. I had the opportunity and I took it. I even had a little break in between to try something from the little elixir bar in the studio finally.
The theme in Outlaw was happiness. Having the courage to be happy and realizing that you have to be happy with where you are before you can get to where you want to go. It was an awesome class as usual. And Megan is amazing. She is a fantastic teacher and a beautiful soul. And I just adore her to pieces. And I am really excited to go to Iowa with her.
 |
| In between class refreshment for the body and mind. The drink is called the Mind Collector and it was DELISH. |
Day 47... Slow Burn Vinyasa - do the discipline. REACH for those dreams, those desires. Take the time to slow down a little.
Final class of the week.... Slow burn Vinyasa. I wish I could record some of these classes. He always says things that I want to remember and usually forget shortly after class. Oh well... The slow burn style is getting easier. I still need to work on my breath but I'm getting there. I had a more difficult time keeping my eyes closed for the whole time but I will work on that as well. We had to redo some poses because we moved too quickly. Which was fine... it helps to have to go back and do the discipline of moving slowly. And while Final Savasana was not like it was the day before, it was better than it has been. I'm thinking of taking a Nidra class or two this coming week. We'll see how the week goes.
Overall, a good week of yoga. Lots of practice. Lots of good tidbits. And some good advice and food for thought on my big vision. I have a few things to consider and meditate on.
Namaste beautiful friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment