Today I read a really inspiring article about the Goddess Akhilandeshvari from Hindu mythology. I don't know much about Hindu mythology (although it would be interesting to learn more about) but this article touched me in a peculiar way.
If you break down Akhilandeshvari it means the Goddess of never not broken. Never not broken... always broken. There are a lot of people in this world that inspire me. Friends, family, celebrities, etc. But it is always the yogis that I find touch me in a unique way. I normally end up following their blog or twitter account and assume that everything in their life is perfect. They've got this whole thing called life figured out. Which surprisingly is pretty depressing as I am so far from perfect it's kind of a joke. I make mistakes. I fall. I have those days where I just don't want to get out of bed because of family issues or drama that's happening in my life. It has taken me a long time to realize that everyone, literally everyone, has moments in their lives that are like this. It is normal. And it should be seen not as a miserable time in your life, but as a time for recreation.
Akhilandeshvari derives her power from being broken. She teaches us that by being broken we never have the limitations of being whole. We can constantly rebuild, shape and sculpt who we are as people. Broken-ness can help us to rid our lives of the toxic routines that as a race we normally cling to. I don't know about you but I have always striven for routines in my life. Weather that be in my work, personal, or yogic life. Routine can sometimes be boring but it can also provide familiarity and comfort. I think it is human nature to strive for these things in our lives.
When you are broken your routines and comforts become screwed up. You get the opportunity to recreate what you want to do, where you want to go, who you want to share your life with. By never being not broken you can makes these choices until your very last breath. I find this truly inspiring. It's one of the best examples of taking a situation and turning it from negative to positive.
A friend of mine is moving to the other side of the country in the next few days. We went for coffee to catch up before he left not too long ago and I was shocked by what he said to me. We were talking about our careers and how I'm having a hard time deciding on what I want to do in my life. There are so many restrictions financially, physically, mentally, etc that I feel are holding me back. He called bullshit and told me that I am letting them control me. He said that I need to make a decision about something that I truly love and run with it. Make it work instead of making reasons why it won't work. If it doesn't end up working then oh well. You start over again. He pointed out all of the comforts that I hold on to in my life. The routines, the luxuries. He told me about how he was in the same place in his life only a few months ago but by taking the risk to go for what he really wanted to do in life the universe rewarded him with getting it. He is now moving to Vancouver to further his career as an actor/director/producer in hopes of eventually going to Hollywood.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that we all have moments in our lives where we feel at our lowest. Where it seems like everything is going wrong. But it is in these moments that we get to choose a new path for our life and to run with it. We shed our life of the bad relationships, bad jobs, or bad habits that we form and we recreate ourselves. Just remember that this process should never end. We should never be not broken.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Community Play
My day started off normal yesterday.
Wake up. Shower. Eat breakfast. Drive to work. Work for 8 hours. Rush home to get yoga gear. Eat a small snack on my way to practice. Swear a couple of times at horrible drivers. Find a parking spot. Talk to the instructor. Lay down my mat. Savasana for 5 minutes. Zone out. Become centered.
Sound familiar? I think so many of us "escape" into our yoga. We make it all about us. This is our time to have peace. To pay attention to our own bodies and forget about our job, our stresses, or the people in our lives. Time to just be in the present. And as much as I always look forward to it I'm starting to think that this isn't how it should be. Especially after last nights class.
Emilie is a fabulous yoga instructor at Moksha Dartmouth. She is great at walking us through challenging flows and really pushing us to dig deep. She is also really good at leading the class spiritually. She doesn't spout lots of spiritual mumbo jumbo but every once in a while she says something that really resonates with me. Or she does something completely unexpected.
Like partner yoga. At first it seemed harmless. She talked about how this week it was community week at the studio for the "Live Your Moksha" challenge that is going on and how we were going to incorporate that into our practice. At first we just had to introduce ourselves to our neighbours. Then we sat on our neighbour's mat, back to back to breath. Inhaling together. Feeling our partners inhale with our own. Everything is all good. Then we went to our own mats, did a few flows and the partner thing left my mind. Just when I'm starting to break a sweat she gets us to do another pose with a different neighbour. I will admit that I cheated the first time and sat with a friend. But this time I had to wrap my arms around a stranger while we did tree together. And I was surprised by how fun it was. We giggled the whole time trying to keep our balance and not knock each other over. Again this happened 3 more times throughout our practice.
I left that class with the biggest smile on my face. It was a lot of fun to enjoy some humor during practice and to also participate with the others in my class. So many times I see people, myself included, walk into the studio, not talk to anyone going in or out. I think it is important to be centered in our practice but to also acknowledge that we are sharing our energy with our neighbours as well. It was a great way to meet some of the other students that go to the studio and to have a few laughs.
So my challenge to anyone reading this, if you go to a studio, or even if you don't, introduce yourself to someone you see often. Whether that be someone at your office, at the coffee shop you frequent or someone that does adho mukha svanasana beside you every night. Share your energy with the people around you and trust me, it will make you smile.
Wake up. Shower. Eat breakfast. Drive to work. Work for 8 hours. Rush home to get yoga gear. Eat a small snack on my way to practice. Swear a couple of times at horrible drivers. Find a parking spot. Talk to the instructor. Lay down my mat. Savasana for 5 minutes. Zone out. Become centered.
Sound familiar? I think so many of us "escape" into our yoga. We make it all about us. This is our time to have peace. To pay attention to our own bodies and forget about our job, our stresses, or the people in our lives. Time to just be in the present. And as much as I always look forward to it I'm starting to think that this isn't how it should be. Especially after last nights class.
Emilie is a fabulous yoga instructor at Moksha Dartmouth. She is great at walking us through challenging flows and really pushing us to dig deep. She is also really good at leading the class spiritually. She doesn't spout lots of spiritual mumbo jumbo but every once in a while she says something that really resonates with me. Or she does something completely unexpected.
Like partner yoga. At first it seemed harmless. She talked about how this week it was community week at the studio for the "Live Your Moksha" challenge that is going on and how we were going to incorporate that into our practice. At first we just had to introduce ourselves to our neighbours. Then we sat on our neighbour's mat, back to back to breath. Inhaling together. Feeling our partners inhale with our own. Everything is all good. Then we went to our own mats, did a few flows and the partner thing left my mind. Just when I'm starting to break a sweat she gets us to do another pose with a different neighbour. I will admit that I cheated the first time and sat with a friend. But this time I had to wrap my arms around a stranger while we did tree together. And I was surprised by how fun it was. We giggled the whole time trying to keep our balance and not knock each other over. Again this happened 3 more times throughout our practice.
I left that class with the biggest smile on my face. It was a lot of fun to enjoy some humor during practice and to also participate with the others in my class. So many times I see people, myself included, walk into the studio, not talk to anyone going in or out. I think it is important to be centered in our practice but to also acknowledge that we are sharing our energy with our neighbours as well. It was a great way to meet some of the other students that go to the studio and to have a few laughs.
So my challenge to anyone reading this, if you go to a studio, or even if you don't, introduce yourself to someone you see often. Whether that be someone at your office, at the coffee shop you frequent or someone that does adho mukha svanasana beside you every night. Share your energy with the people around you and trust me, it will make you smile.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
A Stranger's Kindness
Life has been hard for me lately. Some of it has been self-inflicted but some of it I have had no control over. When life gets like this I tend to write a lot in my journal. I find it is a good way to organize thoughts and to reflect on them in the future.
Fate would have it that Sunday night, during a real low moment, an older gentleman asked if he could sit in the chair beside me at Starbucks while I was writing in my journal. "Of course" I responded with a smile.
I watched as he put down his bag, then his coffee, and slowly sank into the over-sized leather chair. As I started to write again he took up an interest in the stranger sitting beside him - me.
"Are you a writer or is that a diary?"
"It's just a diary."
"What do people write about in those things anyway?"
"Anything that is important in my life. It helps me to organize my thoughts and work through my problems."
"Sounds like your in a crisis."
"Yeah," I laughed. "I guess you could say that."
"Well, don't worry about it," he said with a smile. "You seem like a nice girl. Stick with your positive attitude and you'll make it through any crisis."
And just like that, the kindness of this gentle old man had me on the verge of tears in this busy Starbucks. He continued making conversation, asking if I was a student or worked full time, where I worked, etc. Polite conversation that I've only ever received from people in an older generation. It got me thinking about how my generation - the x y generation - walks around completely oblivious to others around us. For the most part. There are some of us that take interest in strangers. We smile and hold the door open for strangers, pick up a stranger's dropped belonging, simple acts of kindness. But for the most part, (and this is only my experience) most of us don't pay much attention to others.
I have always tried to be the type of person to smile at others if we make eye contact, to tell a worker that they're doing a good job, to compliment someone when they are looking good. These are such simple acts of kindness we can do in our every day lives that can actually make an impact on others. Just like this old man made an impact on me.
That night I had been struggling with a big decision in my life. Whether to go for something I really wanted or to back away politely in peace. This complete stranger (his name is Don I ended up finding out) gave me that little bit of extra courage to stand up for what I wanted and fight for it.
So the next time you see someone that looks a little down on their luck, throw a compliment or even just a sincere smile their way. Open the door for a stranger or lend someone a helping hand. You never know what kind of impact you could make on them. And plus, it never hurt anyone to spread kindness into the world. :)
Fate would have it that Sunday night, during a real low moment, an older gentleman asked if he could sit in the chair beside me at Starbucks while I was writing in my journal. "Of course" I responded with a smile.
I watched as he put down his bag, then his coffee, and slowly sank into the over-sized leather chair. As I started to write again he took up an interest in the stranger sitting beside him - me.
"Are you a writer or is that a diary?"
"It's just a diary."
"What do people write about in those things anyway?"
"Anything that is important in my life. It helps me to organize my thoughts and work through my problems."
"Sounds like your in a crisis."
"Yeah," I laughed. "I guess you could say that."
"Well, don't worry about it," he said with a smile. "You seem like a nice girl. Stick with your positive attitude and you'll make it through any crisis."
And just like that, the kindness of this gentle old man had me on the verge of tears in this busy Starbucks. He continued making conversation, asking if I was a student or worked full time, where I worked, etc. Polite conversation that I've only ever received from people in an older generation. It got me thinking about how my generation - the x y generation - walks around completely oblivious to others around us. For the most part. There are some of us that take interest in strangers. We smile and hold the door open for strangers, pick up a stranger's dropped belonging, simple acts of kindness. But for the most part, (and this is only my experience) most of us don't pay much attention to others.
I have always tried to be the type of person to smile at others if we make eye contact, to tell a worker that they're doing a good job, to compliment someone when they are looking good. These are such simple acts of kindness we can do in our every day lives that can actually make an impact on others. Just like this old man made an impact on me.
That night I had been struggling with a big decision in my life. Whether to go for something I really wanted or to back away politely in peace. This complete stranger (his name is Don I ended up finding out) gave me that little bit of extra courage to stand up for what I wanted and fight for it.
So the next time you see someone that looks a little down on their luck, throw a compliment or even just a sincere smile their way. Open the door for a stranger or lend someone a helping hand. You never know what kind of impact you could make on them. And plus, it never hurt anyone to spread kindness into the world. :)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Ashtanga
This Saturday a friend and I went to the Ashtanga Yoga Shala's 1 year anniversary celebration. They had a free 2 hour class in the evening followed with mediation, chai and treats. We only stayed for the practice and the mediation but it was absolutely phenomenal. This was my first ever Ashtanga class and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I was familiar with most of the postures but not the sequence. From what I can tell there are two sequences in Ashtanga. The primary and secondary. In each one you do a specific sequence of poses in the same order every single time. It seems like once you know the sequence you would go into almost a moving mediation. You wouldn't have to think about what was coming next.
I have to say that it challenged me a lot more than the majority of classes I have gone to recently and I'm seriously considering buying a pass to the Shala. I have two more class passes I have received so I'll use those first just to make sure I really like it. The only down side is that the Shala is in downtown Halifax. I wish it was closer to my house!
I have to say that it challenged me a lot more than the majority of classes I have gone to recently and I'm seriously considering buying a pass to the Shala. I have two more class passes I have received so I'll use those first just to make sure I really like it. The only down side is that the Shala is in downtown Halifax. I wish it was closer to my house!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Live In The Moment
If you know me you know I'm a planner. I have been planning my whole life ever since I realized I could dream and set goals for my future. Sure, these dreams have changed almost as many times as new moons but I have always had a destination of sorts.
Until recently.
Last month was a me month. As I've mentioned, my family and I went to the Dominican Republic for a vacation. If you ask me what we did on that vacation my response would be "absolutely nothing". Which is exactly what the doctor called for. I reveled (don't think this is a word? lol) in the time I had to just be me. Kind of reminds me of this post (could find the one I really wanted but this is a substitute) by my beautiful friend Lisa. Instead of having to get things done like reading, yoga, snorkeling, taking photos, I just enjoyed doing nothing. And I think that is the biggest thing I brought back with me from my vacation.
New Year's Day I decided to commit to a 30:30 challenge. Didn't happen. But you know what? I'm not sad about that. I listened to my body when it told me that I needed a break (no, it was not saying that it wanted to be lazy). And I'm ok with that. I'm sick of having so many expectations for myself. Sure, there are things I want to do in my life. A "bucket list" of sorts. But I am open about the possibilities, flexible with the outcome, as long as I am happy.
I have decided to live in the moment. I'm trying a lot harder now to not make plans. To go out with friends at the last minute. To listen to my intuition and my gut when it tells me to stay in my pj's all day. And I refuse to be guilty about that. Why? Because enjoying the life we have right now is 100 times better than waiting for the life we want tomorrow.
Until recently.
Last month was a me month. As I've mentioned, my family and I went to the Dominican Republic for a vacation. If you ask me what we did on that vacation my response would be "absolutely nothing". Which is exactly what the doctor called for. I reveled (don't think this is a word? lol) in the time I had to just be me. Kind of reminds me of this post (could find the one I really wanted but this is a substitute) by my beautiful friend Lisa. Instead of having to get things done like reading, yoga, snorkeling, taking photos, I just enjoyed doing nothing. And I think that is the biggest thing I brought back with me from my vacation.
New Year's Day I decided to commit to a 30:30 challenge. Didn't happen. But you know what? I'm not sad about that. I listened to my body when it told me that I needed a break (no, it was not saying that it wanted to be lazy). And I'm ok with that. I'm sick of having so many expectations for myself. Sure, there are things I want to do in my life. A "bucket list" of sorts. But I am open about the possibilities, flexible with the outcome, as long as I am happy.
I have decided to live in the moment. I'm trying a lot harder now to not make plans. To go out with friends at the last minute. To listen to my intuition and my gut when it tells me to stay in my pj's all day. And I refuse to be guilty about that. Why? Because enjoying the life we have right now is 100 times better than waiting for the life we want tomorrow.
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