Coming back to a practice after injury takes a particular kind of patience.
Not the patience of waiting, but the patience of rebuilding something carefully, without rushing toward who you were before.
The knee that has been through something is still your knee. It's still worth showing up for.
Know someone navigating injury or coming back to their practice? Forward this to them. It might be exactly what they need today.
Read MoreRecently Ronny and I sat down and chatted about some upcoming and current events at Firefly.
Read MoreThe title of my next book...Yoga. A moving meditation or how to meditate for someone who can barely slow down to eat...
I have been practicing yoga for almost 20 years now.
That seems like a long, long time to me, but in reality, I did not begin this practice until well into midlife. I am a type-A on steroids kind of human. I never stop. My mind races from one topic to another. For example, during COVID shut-downs, I continued to teach, sell real estate and immediately started studying and then decided to write a book. I barely took a pause.
Read MoreI DO NOT believe in New Year's resolutions. I think they often turn into negative self-talk that sabotages our good intentions.
So instead, to honor the turning of the calendar, I spend time at the end of each year reflecting on the previous year, the things that I am ready to release, the things that are no longer serving my highest good. And then, I sit down at the beginning of the new year and with care, intentionally envision what I want my life to look like by the end of the year. As I do this powerful visualization, I have some simple rules that I follow.
Showing up for YOU!
This photo was taken when I was warming up for a photo shoot and wasn't looking. And I love it. I had a canvas made of it, and it hangs wherever I live. Much of my life I cared for other people. I spent years raising the most amazing children (my humble opinion) and caring for partners and pets. They were some of the best years of my life. But throughout those years, I tried to make sure that I had moments, hours and sometimes days that were reserved for me. Solace in silence and peace in the void; I would become energized in solitude.
So those of us who have been granted these wonderful human bodies and souls are often trying to make improvements.
We want to improve our diets, our health, our love lives, our friendships, our work, our work/life balance, our meditation habits, our family relationships... and the list goes on and on and on.
It is easy to get lost in all of these improvements and to feel like we have failed. The feeling of failure often leads to feelings of shame, guilt and remorse.
The Yoga of Self Acceptance
Recently, I bumped up against my humanity in all its glory. My humanity came in the form of a bout of Covid.
I was totally thrown off. After all, I eat right; I practice yoga almost daily; I take all sorts of immune system boosters, and I hadn't been really sick in about 3 years. I had convinced myself that I was invincible, immune to the plague that has been hitting everyone. I almost felt like a secret super hero.
Ishvara Pranidhana, Surrender to the Divine.
The invitation to surrender to the divine is asking us to release the need for control. To some degree if you are human you have an instinctive drive to seek safety.
Some of us believe that safety comes through control. We think that if we can drive circumstances, have a large bank account or manage the people in our lives that we can ensure our safety.
But in reality, all thoughts of control are nothing but illusions. Wisdom and experience show us that we are always subject to the movement of others and the winds of change. The only thing we really have any control over is our own behavior.
Through surrender to something greater, we are mentally and spiritually allowing ourselves freedom. The only freedom we can truly ever have, which is to have faith that we are cared for and held by something greater than ourselves, that we are as safe as we can ever be within this construct. Releasing the need for control and the anxiety about the unknown and trusting in the divine is the ultimate act of surrender.
The invitation to self study is an invitation to become present in love and nonjudgment of ourselves.
I prefer to think of this niyama as the invitation to self-observation. Much of our lives are spent jumping from one thing to the next, knee-jerk reactions. We go quickly and sometimes carelessly into each decision, each movement in our lives.
Svadhyaya asks us to stop and observe ourselves, our feelings, thoughts and actions without judgment, with love and compassion. When we observe how we feel, what we think and how we act, we begin to act with more intention with more certainty. We invite events and reactions that are in alignment with our life's purpose with our soul's journey. For example, someone you know betrays your trust. Your first reaction is to strike back or to curl up and disappear. But if we were to observe our feelings and realize that we are hurt and struggling with the pain of loss of trust, we might step into a different plan of action for dealing with the person for whom we have lost trust, we might invite a different outcome into the struggle of relating to someone who has hurt us.
Observing our feelings, thinking about how to self-soothe and stepping into our truth can change the trajectory of our lives. Svadhyaya calls us to be more intentional and purposeful in how we move in this world.
Self Discipline.
Some yogis find contentment and peace with little effort.
For the rest of us, it is a practice that takes daily attention and focus.
Our "practice" can look like many things. And in so much as I am probably shooting myself in the foot a little, I will say that we do NOT need to show up in a yoga studio every day to practice or to have self-discipline.
For some, Santosha is the holy grail.
If we can find a state of contentment, we can relax... finally. But contentment is often elusive. Our culture encourages us to continue grasping for what we do not have. We are in a society that always hungers for more and in order to get more, we must work more hours and harder. Money becomes the only exchange and time and money are associated. Contentment comes from releasing ourselves from the prison of striving for more. Recognizing the value of what we are and what we have. Gratitude is where this begins. Gratitude is a practice that we can engage in and connect with both in life and on our yoga mats. I believe the practice of gratitude lifts us from fear, takes us into a space of always having and being enough. Gratitude is simple and magical.
So, what are you grateful for today?
Saucha
Purity.
Before asana
Saucha doesn’t lie beyond asana so much as it lies before it. There’s a reason the yamas and niyamas occur before asana in Patanjali’s eight limbs of Yoga. When we take on a physical yoga practice or pranayama practice, we’re using, creating and directing powerful energy. If we turn up on our mats with a sense of aggression instead of ahimsa (non violence), self-denial instead of satya (truthfulness), laziness instead of tapas (discipline or burning passion) and impurity instead of saucha (cleanliness), then we’re not likely to progress as positively throughout our sadhana (our practice).
Read MoreNonattachment. The ability to experience life without forming unhealthy attachments.
Before I even speak about attachment, let me be clear. In my opinion there is no such thing as being completely detached.
In our yoga practices, we work toward a pose. We have seen others who can execute the pose in a certain way that we would like to emulate, so we attempt the pose. If we attach to the pose that we have seen on someone else, this can be a frustrating practice -- as no two bodies are alike. But if we can detach from the picture in our head of how we want this pose to look, we can allow ourselves to explore the pose in each moment in our bodies and in our realities. We can have a deeper and more meaningful experience of the pose and of our practice. In teaching, I will often say that the energy of a movement or pose is "such," but we may never arrive at the place we think we are going. The journey, the practice is the point, so attachment to the outcome is not.
Also in life, if we attach to a person or an outcome, we will often miss the moments, the connections the journey.
None of us are perfect beings. In aparigraha, we work toward presence.
Brahmacharya
Moderation. Nonexcess. The right use of energy. Brahmacharya is sometimes represented in interpretative writings as the practice of celibacy. But when one narrows the broader meaning of using our energy in ways that bring us closer to Brahma (God, the Divine), we miss the intent of the original creators of this Yama. Add in our modern sexual practices, and we tend to just bypass this Yama altogether.
Alternatively, we can take a broader view of Brahmacharya as the practice of using our energies in ways that serve our divine purpose.
Asteya
Non-Stealing. When most of us think of stealing we go to the criminal extreme in our thoughts. We don't think about stealing on the energetic or personal level. For example, when we are late, we steal time from another person. Or when we take up someone's energy or time on something that we could have done ourselves or paid a professional to do.
Oftentimes we are most guilty of stealing from ourselves. Sometimes we don't allow ourselves time to feel, to grieve, to process. We rob ourselves of valuable growth. Sometimes we don't feed our bodies or hydrate, robbing ourselves of good health and a strong immune system. Once again, I return to Ahimsa, non-harming. When we steal energetically or spiritually, we harm ourselves and others.
Namaste,
Lisa
Over the next few weeks, I will explore the Yamas and Niyamas in our newletter. At our June 10-12 retreat, we will explore these yogic guidelines in discussion, meditation and practice. Think of the Yamas and Niyamas like the guidelines on your path to happiness –
Satya
Truthfulness. Being honest and forthright in our relationships can take courage. Sharing our truth in its fullness opens the door to intimacy and connection.
When we withhold information or mislead with false information, we are stepping into a slippery slope that ends in distrust and betrayal.
Satya calls us to look at our integrity. Ask yourself, are you being completely honest in all of your dealings -- both with others and with yourself. Are you representing yourself with integrity, clarity and transparency?
Satya invites us to rise to the occasion and step into the fullness of our experiences with courage and clarity.
Namaste,
Lisa
Over the next few weeks, I will explore the Yamas and Niyamas in our newletter. Think of the Yamas and Niyamas like the guidelines on your path to happiness.
Ahimsa is the first of the Yamas.
In my opinion, Ahimsa, in many ways, says it all.
If one makes it their life's practice to do no harm to another living being, this is a good start, right? But many times we miss the tendency to do harm to ourselves. So the intention of Ahimsa is much broader than it first appears. We work to not harm others, yes, but also ourselves and really any thing.
Ahimsa informs and encapsulates all of the other Yamas. If we have it as our base intention, the other tenets fall into place.
Over the next few weeks, I will explore the Yamas and Niyamas in our newletter. At our June 10-12 retreat, we will explore these yogic guidelines in discussion, meditation and practice. Think of the Yamas and Niyamas like the guidelines on your path to happiness.
Read MoreIncredible Kids Yoga
April 19, we are introducing a new class to our schedule Incredible Kids Yoga!!! We have had so many requests for yoga for children, so we have been hard at work developing a class for you and your kids. Darrell Born will be leading the practice. Darrell is a new yoga teacher to Firefly. He comes from a background in education and music. Darrell has three daughters of his own and is amazing with children. Please come give his class a try and let your kids join in the fun.
Incredible Kids Yoga - Sign your child up for class here
TUESDAYS 4 pm at the Lacey Firefly studio. $15/child.
