Breathe Into the Tight Spots

In yoga each Saturday we are given the chance to breathe. To let go of the week, the frustrations and speed we all learn to live with.

For a few precious minutes, in a room with no clock, we get to forget. And to remember how it could be.

Our teacher often says to breathe into the tight spots. We practise directing our breath to those uncomfortable places.

Breathe Into the Tight Spots

Most of us have been raised to ignore where it hurts and paying attention to the pain is not our first choice of where to go. We much rather spend our money in a shopping mall, distract ourselves with online late night entertainment, or pour an enormous glass. And even if we don’t do the noticeable “bad” things, we may take up projects just to keep ourselves busy to avoid paying attention to something important, and gather things around us as protection.

My yoga teacher tells us we need to spend some time in those tight sad places. We need to go to them to get better, and I know this applies not just in yoga. We need to take a deep breath in all of life’s challenges and stay there quietly to figure things out, to make peace, to forgive, and then to move on.

What I've noticed is that my yoga mat takes me to all kinds of places but mostly it takes me within.

Breathe in, feel the focus of your pain literally and figuratively. Acknowledge it, make friends with it, be grateful for it. What is it telling you?

We need to go to the tight sad places to get better. (Tweet This)

My yoga mat takes me to places within. (Tweet This)

It’s All About the Ego, Dude

Clear your mind, the teacher said. Let’s just move along here, my cousin said in his inside voice.

Breathe deeply, breathe into your hips. What? What does this mean?

The teacher walked about the room, he asked permission and then adjusted the student to help ease into the pose. He’s coming near me, my cousin thought. I can do this, I know I can, I’ll show him how good I can be and it’s only my first class!

But the teacher walked by. Ha, I am pretty good, thought my cousin who is also a doc.

The class continued, and each time the teacher walked by. Hmm, no adjustment necessary. I am good!

At some time during the class, my cousin stopped looking around at the other participants. He realized that his hamstrings were tight from running. That when standing he couldn’t touch his mat, That he swayed like the branches of a willow tree in the breeze when he stood on one foot.

His teacher did not adjust him for the first few classes that he attended. The teacher and the student finally connected.

The teacher understood that in spite of my cousin’s first efforts that he was committed to learn more. The student started to feel some benefits of his yoga class and now stood on one foot at home while he brushed his teeth. He started to be conscious of his breath.

What my cousin didn’t learn until a few years had passed was that his teacher didn’t adjust him in those early days for a reason. He needed to show that he had found his own reasons for continuing to practise yoga. He had to stop using force.

The teacher knew that to continue to learn, we have to put aside what we want to prove, and to breathe into those worrisome places.

And that when we don’t allow it, It’s All About the Ego, Dude. 

You can't force Yoga. (Click to Tweet)

Part 2 of this 3-part series "Ego, our Friend" coming soon.

A Year of Writing

Grab the beverage of your choice and relax with my seven top posts of 2014.

Golden Visit
In a new city, you notice more. Maybe your senses are on high alert, taking in, filtering out what is most essential for your experience.
They were a tall family of red heads. Not strawberry blondes, not gingers, not auburn headed, but a vibrant orange haired family. read more..

Success as an Escalator
I was speaking with a young man today who wanted to tell me his story. He said that if I had 15 minutes, he would bring me to tears. I had had a previous interaction with this fellow and was bewildered and dismayed at his youthful arrogance. read more.. 

My life changed the day I..
Recently reading Apple magazine, with an article highlighting Sheldon Kennedy http://www.applemag-digital.com/applemag/summer_2014#pg40 , I stopped to think of all the pathways and crossroads we face during our lifetime. read more..

Dance wherever you are in Line

Life’s a dance. Sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow. 

Don’t worry ‘bout what you don’t know. 

Life’s a dance you learn as you goread more..

Let the Photo Come to You
Let the photo come to you. This is the message that I have consistently heard from my photography instructors.
I better understood what this means while on a recent trip sitting in Union Square in San Francisco.
read more..

Frame your Life - Living Your Bliss with Art
In conversation with the owner, David Jones told me of the steps and stages he has been through to get to the event I was attending this week. David has expertise and years of experience in different facets of the framing business. read more..

Standing on one Leg
Breathe deep. Dream Big. Balance. read more..

Saluting the Sun

My yoga teacher was sharing how the other day, she had to resort to imagining herself doing Sun Salutes in order to re-gain her composure. Her circumstance involved a five year old. 

We have all heard of take a deep breath before you…say something you might regret, pull out your hair, tell someone to **off. Visualizing yourself decompressing certainly would be valuable. But just for one moment, picture yourself just stopping and doing a Sun Salute. Anywhere, wherever you might be. Just stop, in the middle of a bad customer service transaction, opening an unexpected bill, at work when you’re dealing with an ignorant customer/co-worker/supervisor. 

Wouldn’t it be great to just STOP and say, Just a moment please I need to collect myself before I can deal any further with YOU. Wouldn’t that be liberating? Doesn’t that just make you smile?

Yes, STOP and go into your Sun Salute, honour yourself and your feelings and tell the recipient “I’ll be back…better”.

Tamara - this one's for you.

Signs - of stupidity?

There are signs everywhere. We see them, ignore them, manipulate them and interpret them. to our advantage.

Recycling is such a great idea. I can't imagine where all this yucky stuff was dumped previously. However, cardboard is not paper, paper inside plastic bags is not paper, and surely there should be no confusion between plastic and glass! But it seems that there is in the building I live in. Short of standing there and policing the guilty, what is a person to do? (Breathe)

There's a sign in our staff room that has grown angrier as the year has gone on. Tell me, why do people think that their Mother works there? She who silently and in a saintly manner rinsed the dregs out of our cups and scraped plates decorated with melted cheese. Is your colleague's time less valuable than your own? Someone eventually tires of the mess and cleans up, there's always one in our midst, the good child.

On holidays recently, we noticed a large swimming pool that did not have a fence or a sign of any sort, as is the law where I live. They assumed that you 1. would not jump in if you couldn't swim and 2. If you don't want to go in, you'd walk around. Common sense. There were no warnings about ' please don't go in if you are intoxicated", and "please no children without adult supervision" (especially if the adult doesn't know the difference between plastic and glass).  I like their assumption, if you don't get it, you will get wet.

Someone wrote in to share about the service they didn't receive. It seems that when she went to pay a bill, it was cordoned off with an "enter" sign followed by one of those wandering back and forth trails. Much to her delight, there was no one ahead of her, so she skipped the trail and eagerly stepped directly in front of the person at the counter. She was informed that she could not be served because she did not enter where it said "enter". Are you kidding me?

Count the signs you see today, there are sure to be some that irritate (because you and I have common sense) and some that mystify.