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The Drain of Dwelling
Caution: Graphic content included!
After spending an hour in my yard doing spring cleanup yesterday, I headed inside for a drink of water. I grabbed my sturdy uncapped SIGG water bottle and took a swig. Gulp, gulp, gulp….
I felt something tickle my inner lip and in an instant I sprayed water out of my mouth and across the kitchen. There, in a puddle of water, sat the culprit. A disgusting, crunchy Stink Bug!
I groaned and gasped for a moment and then I ran to tell my daughters. Can you believe it? How gross! When my husband called I had to tell him right away. Can you believe it? I am traumatized!
I re-lived my epic Stink Bug story at least 20 times during the course of the evening. Each time groaning and gasping. I dwelled and dwelled over and over again.
By the time I went to bed, I was drained of reliving the Stink Bug story. “Enough already!”, I said to myself. “Just let it go and stop wasting your precious energy.” As I reflected on my silliness, I recognized just how often I dwell on my stories and dramas. There are stories from 25 years ago that I will often relive just for the pure sport of it.
Buddha said, “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
He was right of course. It’s much healthier to just drop the drama and get on with your life. But did he ever have a Stink Bug crawl in his mouth?
So the moral of the day… check your water bottles before you drink! (oh yeh, and “be here now” and all that stuff too)
The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat
There is no doubt in my mind that the Olympics are a two week bag of emotions. The buildup to this event is huge for every athlete that participates and it is four years in the making. When their moment to compete finally comes, these athletes are literally “on the verge” of huge emotion. They have prepared themselves for the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.
Olympic athletes or elite athletes of any sort voluntarily put themselves “at risk” to experience big emotion, scary emotion if you will. They certainly did not reach a high level of success because they played it safe.
Most of us play it safe in life. We will do just about anything to avoid the risk of feeling pain or the agony of defeat that we also shut ourselves off from the potential to experience the thrill of victory. Then we wonder why. Why doesn’t opportunity come my way? Why can’t I make more money? Why can’t I find my soul mate?
As with everything in life, there are two sides of the coin. When an athlete steps onto the field it is with the understanding that he or she may win or lose. They know that there are no guarantees. They are willing to risk it all to win with the understanding that they may not. It seems, however, that our society has tried to change the rules. We have been conditioned to want a guarantee of winning without experiencing any discomfort. On a whole, we are not willing to risk much but expect a lot in return. Life just doesn’t work that way and these past two weeks our Olympians have reminded us of that.
So once again, it comes back to our yoga mats. Patanjali, who wrote the yoga sutras thousands of years ago, said that every time we practice yoga you experience what he calls a “short life”. You will encounter the ecstasy and the disappointment that you may feel in your daily lives if you dare to. You face fear, doubt and joy. You feel the thrill of holding a challenging warrior pose and the agony of trembling in a balance pose.
As your practice becomes consistent, you will find the courage to risk experiencing deeper emotion both on and off the mat. You will learn to step toward discomfort more often than backing away from it. In a sense, when you practice hatha yoga, you are training for your own Olympic event, that being your daily life.
Intend to Rest
One day about two years ago I surrendered. I was practicing Flow and I just let go! (Sorry, couldn’t resist the rhyme).
There I was on my mat, moving through my practice when all of a sudden the silliness of my controlling mind became crystal clear to me. I recognized in that moment that my habit of pushing my body in my asana practice had actually been draining my energy. In that moment, I chose to enjoy the practice and to allow myself to be refueled instead of drained.
Interestingly enough, pushing my body for many years had actually been counterproductive. When I finally let go and allowed my breath to guide me in and out of poses I found that was I able to get a good rest while on my mat. I found that by backing off a pose when I lost my rhythmic breathing, I was able to relax and find new places to play in the pose. The wonderful result of surrendering on my mat was that my practice deepened tenfold.
Almost all new yoga students will over-try and over-struggle in their practice. We start out wanting to “be good” at yoga. As I often say in class at Verge Yoga, there is nothing to achieve and there is no perfect pose. Of course, I know that when I say those words, most students are thinking, “yeh right, okay, whatever Cara”. Please trust me that it took me 10 years of committed practice to finally “get it”.
I recognize that it is paradoxical to intend to rest when you come to your “power yoga” practice and I also recognize that most yoga students come to the practice for the physical work out. The good news is that you can rest, sweat, strengthen and re-energize all at the same time!
So next time you step upon your yoga mat whether at Verge Yoga or somewhere else, set your intention to “rest” during your practice. Keenly observe yourself when you begin to force your way into a pose. If your breathing becomes labored or imbalanced then back off the pose physically until you find the precise place where the breathing is rhythmic and unforced.
Enjoy the ride and enjoy the most peaceful savasana you have ever had. Please let me know how you do.
Smile
If we are not able to smile then the world will not have peace. ~ Thich Nat Hanh
I came upon this quote just a few days after the earthquake in Haiti. Just reading this master’s quote made me smile and reflect on how blessed my life is. Sure it was easy for me to smile as I sat in my cozy house in suburban Philadelphia. What about those around the world who were not reading in their cozy house? What about those in Haiti without homes? How do they manage to muster up a smile in the midst of their own poverty and tragedy?
While I don’t have the answer to that question, I believe that we find our ability to smile in hard times when we are filled with faith. Perhaps it is faith in God or in a higher power that assists us. Our faith is our foundation, it is the “rock upon which we build our house” as I referred to in my last blog entry.
My faith is strengthened from my daily practice which includes yoga, meditation and prayer. I believe that this foundation is built one day at a time and I mindfully prepare myself for those days to come when it may not be easy to smile.
For now I feel that I must continue to smile and to pray for those who are having trouble smiling themselves. In the words of the Great Buddhist Peace Prayer:
May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May all beings find happiness and the root of happiness.
Our smiles can help so keep smiling. :)
How Do I Help?
The recent earthquake in Haiti has literally shaken me off my footing. The images and stories are almost too raw and too graphic for me to swallow. Personally, I am overwhelmed. Sure, the $100 sent to the Red Cross will help a bit. Of course, the daily prayers sent to those suffering around the globe and especially to those touched by this tragedy will help a bit. But honesty I am still left feeling “helpless”.
There are yoga studios all around Philadelphia that have already had benefit classes to raise money for the relief effort in Haiti. I commend them for their effort. We are considering holding a benefit class at Verge Yoga. I know that it is a great way to raise money. A few years back, Verge Yoga raised a few thousand dollars in this manner for the relief effort for tsunami victims. Honestly, there is something tugging at my consciousness urging me do more. For some reason I am still resisting the obvious avenues to helping the millions of victims affected by this tragedy. As I said before, I am overwhelmed by totality of this tragedy.
The question I ask is how does one help a country that is lacking infrastructure and has been suffocated by corruption for years? There is nothing left in Haiti but a pile of rubble and many souls that suffer yet hope for literally a more stable future.
The only answer that comes to mind is that we need to start by helping to rebuild the foundation of Haiti. My Hatha yoga practice has taught me this truth. By building a strong stable base physically, emotionally and mentally through the practice of yoga, we the ground upon which we can expand upon.
In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus says the following:
"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."
I believe that this is true on a yoga mat, in a family and in a nation. The Haitians have been living on a sandy foundation for too long and I pray that we can help them. The earth shaking beneath that small Caribbean island has exposed just how weak their foundation has been.
So my question to you all is how do we help Haiti build a stable foundation? Money, yes, is necessary. Prayers are necessary. An interim government led by perhaps the United Nations. I also believe, however, that setting a strong example is also necessary. We must solidify our own ground first before we can help others do so. Once again, it begins with us. It begins with taking personal responsibility for our state of being.
So I guess that I have sort of answered my own question. I am still, however, left overwhelmed. I would love any support that you could share with me. If you know of an organization that you believe can make a difference in building Haiti’s foundation, please let me know. Perhaps then the benefit class will make more sense to me. Perhaps it will help me feel less overwhelmed and more confident that we truly can make a difference.
Thank you.
National Champions!
On December 18, 2009, the Villanova University Football team won the FSC National Football Championship. Since August these Wildcats have been fierce, focused and committed to each other. I am honored to have been able to train them this year. They are true yogis.
On December 18, 2009, the Villanova University Football team won the FSC National Football Championship. Since August these Wildcats have been fierce, focused and committed to each other. I am honored to have been able to train them this year. They are true yogis.