Be The Best Version of Yourself

"Home is where my habits have a habitat"  - Fiona Apple

This weekend I had the immense pleasure and privilege to participate in a workshop led by my teacher, Lauren Toolin. She titled it Jivayate, which translates as bring back to life. It was a practice of self care. One of the many ideas that came up was that yoga helps you become the best version of yourself. 

Oh if only life were simple and you were already the best version of you. But we're mired in behavioral habits and emotional baggage. Being this best version is going to take some work. They say nothing is worth having that you didn't work for. Well, with the commitment to consistent effort, we can become this shining example of the pinnacle of us. 

The holidays are an interesting experiment in trying for joy in the face of significant stress. Now maybe that describes your typical day, but the holidays are particularly trying, if you let them be. Visiting with family, sometimes several families, can be a strain on one's good attitude. The people we grow up with influence strongly the adults we become, and sometimes interacting with them causes perfectly reasonable adults to revert to childhood conditioning. Have you ever had that moment with your family where it's as if you're standing outside yourself, watching your behavior and thinking "what are you doing?!"? 

There are many ways to ameliorate stress and not all of them are yoga. Staying mindful amid chaos and giving yourself what you need is the epitome of self care. It boils down to self reflection. Be brave enough to be honest with yourself. How much of your stress is self imposed? How important is your stress to your sense of self? Do you feel less worthy when you're more relaxed? Do you feel less purposeful when you aren't filling your time with things to do? Things to take care of? When you're not giving your energy away?

This week's intention is an exploration of energy containment. We will move repeatedly from our center of gravity and spine out to our extremities (but no further) and back again with breath and asana. Each tour to our extremities is a chance to eliminate blockages and release tension, thereby increasing ease of energy movement in the body. By containing this process to ourselves we keep more energy, becoming more radiant  As we return to center, we keep the radiance and gain groundedness, without which our radiance would make us flighty and we would be more apt to let that energy seep from us.

We all have a choice but I know there are circumstances. I know I am better able to let go of stress and nourish myself when I am surrounded by others trying to do the same. Which is why I go to yoga workshops. I not only learn principles to pass on to you, but I apply them to myself in a room full of others doing the same thing. Solidarity baby. There are studies that show you lose more weight if you workout with a friend. You will be more mindful if you surround yourself with mindful people. It is also much easier for me to practice nourishing myself if I don't have a full time job. It is truly remarkable the extent to which all of this goodness goes out the window when I am fatigued and stressed from having to leave the house every day. From having to be responsible for a job, my part in the house, the kids, etc. The list seems to go on and on. But those are the times when these ideas are the most important to experience. When you're at our lowest it is imperative to take care of yourself.