Yoga/Life Philosophy

Hello Reader,

I have - yet, again - a late night, post yoga blog post to share with you. I'll try to keep this one brief.

This thought began to develop while I was trying to tune out the Miley Cyrus music the instructor had chosen for tonight's practice. She had some really great song choices, however, Miley was a low point. 

Anyways, I found tonight's practice somewhat disjointed and I decided to analyze why I felt that way while bouncing from ridged pose to ridged pose.

The focus was on the poses - getting to them, holding them briefly, and then on to the next. There was little discussion of how to get from one to another, why this pose is what it is, or proper alignment for safety purposes (can you tell I've taught yoga and had a supervisor who stressed the importance of safety in ones practice?) When I whittled down this unease I had with the flow of the class, it was simple; there was no attention paid to the transitions or the journey of the practice. The transitions from pose to pose in yoga is where the real work comes in, it's where you grow and deepen your yoga practice. She did not allow any of that to happen in her class. Skipping that journey is cheating yourself out of developing as a yogi and reaching your full potential.

So let's take the above paragraph and apply that to life.

I was looking specifically at my life since it is the one I'm living and can easily apply this to. The theme to my past few month has been change, I'll lump transitions into that too, and that was what struck me as missing from tonight's class. I feel quite strongly that a whole-heck-of-a-lot of personal growth, and self development has accompanied all of life's happenings. I think people need to take things slow in times of change to harness the power that transitions give us to learn. I don't see many benefits from just jumping from one thing to the next. It's like what I said above, "Skipping that journey is cheating yourself out of developing as a yogi and reaching your full potential" except replace "yogi" with "person."

In yoga, I believe the instructor is there to offer guidance in the practice specifically in allowing space for smooth transitions from one pose to another. Now, I know this is not exactly how life always works but hopefully there has been someone along the way giving each of us the resources and strength to get through transitions even if the journey is a difficult solo experience. This way you know when to breathe through a situation, muscle your way out of a challenging change, dig deeper for the inner strength you need to float through the next step, or simply surrender to things you can't control. I think these are all lessons worth carrying off the yoga mat.

...

So much for being brief, huh? Oh , well.  Sorry!

Thanks for reading!

- M

Post-Yoga Thought List: Contentment & Rainbows

Hello Reader,

Per usual, I haven't been keeping up with this blog (I've hit the ground running since returning to AZ), I still have a new job and a new apartment and a vacation to Maine to discuss and document with more photos than truly necessary, however, I have some thoughts I want to get out before bed.

I've noticed that my epiphanies these days seem to be poignantly marked with yoga sessions ... perhaps it's the deep hip openers, that last monkey pose is what seemed to open a flood of thoughts tonight ... and the time before that it was pigeon pose ... anyways ...

I am quite content with the life I have carved out for myself. I have felt this growing contentment form for a while now and sometime between my Maine vacation and the trip back here it has been affirmed somehow. This may sound silly, but I think it has something to do with rainbows.

When I first flew out to AZ for my interview, I noticed a rainbow as we started out final descent. I thought it was odd to see a rainbow in the desert - my understanding was the conditions out here weren't conducive - but I took is a a good sign - I don't know why, I don't really associate rainbows with anything other than Kermit and the Rainbow Connection, but I thought it was a good sign that perhaps this job interview would work out well for me.

And it did. Obviously. I'm here.

Ever since my move west, I think things have really fallen into place. I'm not saying it has been easy or that I haven't had some major challenges to get through (growing pains included), but everything feels quite right where it is now.

Now all this may just be a culmination of massive amounts of change in the past few months, coupled with some books that rattled me in a good way, on top of plenty of time to think in quiet spaces and process with loved ones, however, there was something about my travel from AZ to ME and back to AZ this time.

It all felt different.

I think what it comes down to is I truly feel like AZ is home too. This thought bubbled up in my mind as we were circling the airport in a thunderstorm before landing in Pheonix (apparently hip-openers and final descents really make me think). I am still very sad to leave Maine each time - I rarely make it through take-off with out a few tears - but I was and still am quite excited to return to life in AZ.

As we landed we did a 360-turn on our way to the gate we saw a dust storm coming in over Camelback Mountain, an epic sunset silhouetting the city, the palm trees, and the mountains, and two rainbows (one was a double). The rainbows were a gentle reminder of my first flight here and how I interpreted them as a good sign. I took them in the same way this time and felt that contentment really solidify.

I also really enjoyed that I traveled with the sun that day, watching it rise in Maine and set in Arizona. There was something super satisfying and wicked cool about being able to say that.

Well, it's late, I hope you were able to follow my disjointed yoga, rainbows, being content thought process. I am off to dig my bed out from under four loads of laundry ...

Thanks for reading!

- M