Lessons From the Yoga Mat to Life

Hello Reader,

As some of you may know, I have some significant changes on the horizon over the next few months. I won't get into them now, all in good time, but I feel it is important to share that before I got into this post.

I have practiced yoga for a little over 5 years now - mostly on my own these days - and I am suddenly struck with all that yoga has taught me and how it has grounded me through a lot of things. I am amazed how I am able to draw connections regularly between life and the yoga mat lately. The rooftop yoga series I attended over the past month has played a huge role in these epiphanies. I've listed out my top three below.

#1.) The most important lesson for me has been to be present, not dwell on the past or worry about the future. The instructor at rooftop yoga would say whatever sensation we are feeling right now, we should allow ourselves to feel it, and know that it will pass. It is a regular motto for me these  days. I have some anticipatory anxiety about the possibilities to come. But I know the changes are inevitable, so I might as well be along for the journey.
 
#2.) I have learned to re-frame my focus by taking the time to think about all the good things I have happening around me. We began and ended each rooftop yoga class with a moment of gratitude. Gratitude for what we have, not what we hope to have someday. For me, its not just about the what but, more importantly, the who. I have met a diverse group of people out here (students, colleagues, and new friends). Hearing each of their personal stories has allowed me to become more and more grateful for everything leading up to this moment in my life. I am increasingly grateful for all I had growing up and I currently have now.

#3.) The final lesson I've learned, and perhaps the one that will carry me through the transitions ahead, is to trust myself completely. I started to realize this when I popped up into a wheel posture for the first time in a while (last time I tried this pose, I ended up crashing down onto the top of my head). My realization was confirmed when I made my way into a full tripod headstand for the first time in probably four years since I had first tried that pose. It reminds me that I can do what I need to do and want to do, I just need to take a leap of faith. The yoga instructor would tell us that we don't have to have a path to be heading in the right direction. For me, that means I need to trust that I am heading in the right direction (which I do).

So, all of this has come about due to change in my life and a yoga series that took place on a roof of a hotel in Phoenix (there's something I'd never thought I'd say). Maybe I just needed to grow up a little bit or have my life take a 180 in order to have it all hit me in this way, regardless, I am definitely using the lessons I've learned on the mat in my life to process the anticipation of all the change to come.

A very wise friend of mine has been telling me since we met over 6 years ago, "Mollyness, the only constant in life is change." So true.

Thanks for reading.

Namaste.

- M

P.S. If you have no idea what I'm referring to with all this change, don't worry about it and don't worry about me. I'll be fine and I'll share as it occurs.