Acceptance

Everything is ok.

Make everything ok! Everything you hate or find fault with or judge. Let it be ok for(ever) this week. Treat yourself with kindness and acceptance. Forgive what you hold against yourself. Notice what you find fault in yourself is what you hold against others. 

We find ourselves in ruts and many who regularly practice yoga do so for the increased ability to effect positive change in their life. In order to move past what your stuck in, you have to accept where you are, what you're capable of and how you feel right now. Then you can move on with a light heart and a sense of adventure because you've come to terms with what is. It can't haunt you any more. It can't influence your behavior; effect your decision making process. 

Even in others. Typically you are witness to behavior that has been shaped in the years before you knew someone. Getting upset about it can't help. If possible, understand that what comes out of anyones mouth is more about them than it can possibly be about you.

This is not about giving yourself a free pass to hurt yourself. This is not about indulging in things that are slowly beating you down. This is about not using guilt as yet another way to hurt yourself. Examine your relationship to pain. Understand your feelings about your own worth. How often do you indulge in something you have been conditioned to feel guilty about then flogged yourself with the guilt later? That is no way to live! If you're going to do it, do it. If it truly hurts you, figure out a way to let go of it. 

This is not about giving up. Maybe you have come across someone who has been so beaten down by their pain that everything is okay because they don't care anymore. Allowing what is to be acceptable is not the same as giving up. 

You can consciously choose to suffer less. But if you are suffering, let that be ok! This is an area I am still working on. Know who you are when you suffer. Pushing it down or away will only intesnify it later. The self medicating we do is only temporary. But, this week, let it be ok. Whatever your   "medication" is. It's ok. And, maybe, eventually you'll find the suffering ok too. 

Moving into Stillness

"Time is the flow of experience around the still point of the moment." - Deepak Chopra The weather is finally cooperating and it is going to affect our mood and behavior. Understandably so. What a relief it is to have temperate weather after such extreme. One of the ways that yoga helps us navigate our life skillfully is to help us weather some of the extremes of our life. During the winter we tend toward sedentary behavior. And, with the relief of not having to bundle up in four layers to be able to go outside and be comfortable, we might may feel some elation and, the potential for extreme excitement.  Yoga can help us to have a more even keel. The tendency toward lethargy during winter weather is not relaxation. The tendency toward mania during nice weather is not energized action.  There is a concept in yoga called sattva. It is quality of being in which you are energized yet calm. It is the quality of light. The breath exemplifies this duality. The inhalation energizes and enlivens, the exhalation calms and centers.  So go out and play. Enjoy the weather; be active. But make time for stillness and quiet so that you can achieve the inner space in which to live a more balanced life.