Be present. This can be a helpful cue when your mind is hijacking your attention. Surrendering to the moment can invoke a feeling of flow, where you are unencumbered by thoughts weighing you down. Yoga is powerful in its ability to bring our attention to the present moment. Breathing, meditation and asana, alone or in combination, provide an opportunity to release our minds from inventing future stories and retelling historic events by focusing on what we are in the moment. Sometimes though, it feels right to reminisce. Memories can make you laugh or smile, or they may make you shudder or cry. Both are cleansing reactions with notable health benefits. The intention of being in the now is not to eliminate feelings. It is a state we can discover when we can observe our past and accept our future without shame or fear. The only way to come to that state is by surrendering ourselves to experience the feelings and shifting our perspective enough to let us observe them with compassion. It’s like a yoga asana that involves a deep stretch. You may experience significant sensations in an area of your body. If you resist it or force yourself to go deeper than you are ready to it can be very uncomfortable or even harmful. But if you listen to your body, you can find the sweet spot of surrender where you create just the right amount of space in the muscles to expand and heal.
I had the amazing opportunity to have the social equivalent of the just right stretch this past week with a group of friends that I have known for over 4 decades... just writing it is unbelievable. We laughed, cried, and shared our deepest feelings without worrying about judgement. We support each other without trying to change each other. I wish for everyone to experience friendship like this. The thing is, I almost didn’t go. I wondered after so many years if it would be uncomfortable, if I would rather stay home, if I had some work excuse that was more important, if I wanted to spend the money on the plane ticket. And the answer of course was yes. There were awkward moments, I missed my partner and my bed, and I did get behind on work, but I wouldn’t trade the expansion and healing that our reconnecting created for anything. So, I ask you to consider challenging yourself a little to surrender to experience something that you might have lots of excuses to skip. Calling the person that you haven’t been in touch with but think about often, going on that trip or taking one of our upcoming workshops to guide you in navigating that flow between release, surrender and being present. We look forward to supporting you!