Reflecting on 2019, and really the last two years, I’ve come up with my word for 2020! I know, FINALLY, I’m slow! The first day of 2020 I gathered with a group of people at Shakti Yoga Center in Garland to start my day with an intention and surrounded by community. Before the class I read a quote that stuck with me, “In the past, jobs were about muscles, now they’re about brains, but in future, they’ll be about the heart.” I LOVED it! I quoted it that morning before teaching and I’ve continued to reflect on it.
Anahatasana
The last two years I’ve been training with Gary Kraftsow and have had the opportunity to dive in to the study of yoga to a depth I haven’t encountered before. The program strives to encourage personal practice, and it WORKED! We would study together in Austin for two weeks and then go home with six months between sessions to put to practice what we learned during our session. It started with the basics of breath and movement. I began connecting to my patterns of breath and movement which had a a powerful integrating effect. I started to feel a rhythm in my yoga asana practice that increased my ability to concentrate on being in my body rather than just doing my practice. I did this for 6 months—simply exploring breath and movement.
Our next session was pranayama, or more specifically how to use breath in your yoga practice to create a certain effect. Again, we left with our own handwritten yoga practice to explore the idea of controlled breath in asana and specific breathing techniques. I continued to practice breath and movement, but now I was exploring how different ways of breathing made me feel energized, calm, or clear-headed. I started to feel more in control. As I gained control of myself, I began releasing control of other things. What normally felt difficult, was still difficult, but I could manage the difficulty in a different way. I was capable of feeling uncomfortable without needing to change it. I could use a yoga practice to soothe myself instead of a glass of wine, and it became my preferred method.
The third session was chanting and meditation, as we continued adding to what we had been exploring, for now, over a year. The practice I took home after the third session felt like a catapult! I felt empowered and supported by practice. If I needed a reminder of my self worth, I chanted. If I needed love, I chanted. If I needed to be nurtured, I chanted. My body and mind became the chant. I used chanting to connect to a place inside of me. The practice I created before we left used a chant for abundance, and that’s exactly what I experienced. THAT’S POWERFUL!
My Personal Mission
During each session, I left the two weeks with a word that summed up the experience for me. Faith, Reverence, No Matter What, and the final word was HEART. The fourth and final session was the integration of these practices where we would fluidly move between breath, movement, meditation, and chanting. It was beautiful. It was the connection of my thinking mind and my feeling heart. I could easily drop into my inner world and use my mind to explore my heart. I’m observing patterns in my thinking, discovering how my senses have lead me to make life choices that don’t ultimately support my dreams and desires. This is a practice that is revealing things about me to ME! Because of these practices, I’ve landed in my heart which has become a safe place to explore.
For some people the mission is big, for others the mission is small, and each is just as important. Neither one of these are better, they’re just different. I am one whose mission is small, right here, right now. My mission is being present in the moment with the child playing at the park who gifts me with a smile, the homeless person on the corner who gifts me with conversation, the elderly person in the store who gifts me with wisdom. I am also gifting them a moment. It’s small.
These practices are helping me to see more as I cultivate compassion and awareness of my own biases and also recognize that small acts can be part of the bigger picture. And for those whose gift is to see the world more globally, I’m noticing how these same concepts of compassion and heart are becoming part of their work and mission as they reach a larger audience. What’s common is the practice, or any practice that is intentional, that encourages self reflection and inquiry. We are human and we do suffer as part of this condition, but our life is a gift to work through this and experience more happiness, health, and connection!
Happy 2020 my friends! Let’s do some yoga!