Simplicity

Yogis,

As another Christmas season draws to a close, my mind turns to simplicity.

I truly love our family Christmas traditions - although my husband does sometimes call me Scrooge.  It’s just that the season has become a bit drawn out for me, covering multiple weeks…..  But the 4 days when my family is all here and we settle into our cocoon with plenty of cheese and crackers, champagne, eggs benedict, funny movies and board games are absolutely wonderful.  A time when we all move together as one unit, don’t care what we look like and spend 4 hours opening gifts one at a time.   I am incredibly grateful for those times.

But I realize that I also love, equally as much, but for very different reasons, the time when Christmas ends.

The first few days after the family has all left and the presents have been carried upstairs, I begin to sense and crave simplicity.   As I move furniture back where it belongs, strip the beds and mop away all of the cookie crumbs and pine needles, I can again see the texture of the wood floors.  The remaining desserts and goodies get packed up into the fridge and the counter top for the first time in a week actually shines.   And after the 5^th load of laundry I can walk into the laundry room without stepping over piles.  A sense of space returns.

This year my closet had been getting out of control for several months.  Too many clothes.   Too many shoes.  Where do they all come from? And how could I possibly ever wear them all?  So yesterday I literally took everything out of my drawers and closet and started over.  Clearing out the excess, not only from the room, but from my life.  Simplicity. 

And who can’t help but feel that enough is enough on the food and drink front!  I felt like one big piece of bread.  All I wanted was yogurt, salads, fruit and nuts. 

It feels like a cleansing.  But not only of the house and the closet and the body…..but also of my soul.  As I did my first true full yoga practice I realized how out of touch I was with “me”.   But after 3 practices and a walk to the river to open the front of my body to the brilliant winter sun,  I was “back”.   A time to return to  the simple joys of daily life.   A time to return to the beauty of stillness. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful New Years!  Yet another huge, completely blank canvas in front of us on which we can create absolutely anything we desire.  What visions do you have for yours? 

Simply,

SARAH

The Beauty of the Season

Happy holiday season Yogis!

 

As I finish up the last minute wrapping, decorating and “fluffing” of the house in eager anticipation of my family’s arrival, I have been contemplating the meaning of beauty.    We use the word so often.  But what is it?  How do we know when we see it……or is it more something we should feel instead of see?

 

Webster’s definition is “the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit”.    So although we are a vision driven society, where we are constantly reminded through tv, magazines and ads, what beautiful “looks” like, the definition goes much deeper than that. 

What about the beauty of a poem, how it stirs the heart.  And I remember the first time I went as a child to a large concert hall to hear an orchestra – the beauty and depth of the music brought me to tears.    Or the beautiful aroma of the air after the first spring rain.  The beauty of a rainbow…… just because it is so perfect. 

As we worked with opening the third eye over these last few weeks, it occurred to me that real beauty, the inner beauty of the soul, is seen from this spot, and not through the physical eyes.  Our physical eyes are attracted to what our mind defines as beautiful, but that outer beauty as they say….is skin deep.   If there isn’t a radiance behind it, it fades.  Beauty must have aliveness.  Like when you meet someone who has all of the outer trappings without the inner depth – your perception quickly shifts.  And likewise someone who may not stand out in the crowd,  but who turns and looks you right in the eye, and suddenly their brilliance washes over you like a wave of warmth.  The eyes are the window to the soul.

And who decided that wrinkles and aging aren’t beautiful?  I have been experimenting with this myself as I have taken a 6 month break from makeup.   Removing some of the outer layer that had become my habitual way of having the world see me.  But that really isn’t me.  Instead seeing if I can awaken my inner beauty and have that be what others see when they look.  (I will let you know how it goes J).  And as I look at others I too am trying to see them on the inside. 

So as we enter this holiday week my intention is to open to the true beauty of the season.  To not “look” for it in the bright lights, but to feel it with all of my senses.    Letting it all ‘exalt my spirit’!

Sending joy, lots of love, and beauty directly from my soul to yours,

SARAH

Another unexpected pause

Dearest Yogis,

The universe provided us another pause on Friday.  But this one was completely unexpected, not asked for, and unthinkable.  The Sandy Hook tragedy literally took our breath away……………………

 

 

Soon after the news started to arrive, I received an email saying that “it is hard to think about it without crying on the inside”.    So I sat with that during my Friday night time for me.  I sobbed.  I listened.  I opened.  And this is what I heard:

I am realizing that we are supposed to cry on the inside.   All of us.   Everyone of us.  Just a time of stopping and grieving.  Truly feeling all of those families.   Crying with them. 

But then for all of us not directly affected, those of us on the perimeter…..as we are ready, we begin to let that grief pour out the through the back of our heart, while we let the front of the heart start to spread wide open. 

Grief and joy/love are two sides of the same penny.   And all of us, everyone, on this outer rim who can,  should be sending that vibration of love from the open front of the heart to create a soft, tightly woven netting under all those affected.   Surrounding them with this highest vibration so that they can let go and truly allow their anger, grief and despair without the fear of falling.  Being held by all of us.

Too  often in times like this the opposite happens.  People begin to grieve for the families, but begin to take it on as their own grief.    Sometimes turning it into anger, or very often - fear.  Wanting action.  Reacting.  Analyzing.  Questioning.  That “we must do something now”.  That somehow we only care if we are “doing something”.        But this isn’t the time for that.   

There is enough anger and grief inside those involved without us all pouring ours into it, making it stronger.  Instead we need to be the support, to  just “be” love.  Emanate love  Only love will stop this craziness.    We need a true shift, not another political debate. 

Close your eyes, drop your shoulders and send out love.  Just love.   And now imagine just for a moment what it would be like if the whole county, or better yet the whole world, radiated love out the front of their hearts for even 15 minutes.  Powerful!!  Healing.  Helping.  

Last night I thought  of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.  How in the early morning, once realizing all that had happened, they just joined around the tree, opened their hearts and sang.  Sending out the vibration of what it is that we all want.    Because what we live, is what we will be. 

And then down the road there can and should  be steps taken/action.  But from a place of peace and not as a reaction to a tragic event.

But for now, let this be the pause between the words.

With lots of love,

SARAH

Third Eye......the space between thoughts

Dear Yogis,

“Thoughts become things.  Choose the good ones.

                   ~Mike Dooley, author of Notes from the Universe

Our 6^th chakra, Ajna, the center between the eyebrows….our third eye.    Here we meet up with the mind.  Oh my.

Our minds are amazing tools.  But how many of us instead find ourselves slaves to our thoughts.  Referred to as ‘monkey mind’, that constant inner dialog telling us how we feel, what might happen, the fifty things that must get done today, what is right, what is wrong – spinning and changing direction on a whim.  Not a tool, but the commander in chief. 

And living in this fast paced, high tech age has only seemed to ramp up its speed and intensity.  The constant barrage of information,  noise and lights fill  our mind until we begin to feel like Fox News with two screens and two moving tickers along the bottom.    One thought to another to another to another…..until we have literally squeezed out the space between thoughts.  Controlled by thought.

Right now – just STOP.  Stop everything.  Suddenly STOP.  Notice what happens.  Now begin to move and think again….and then STOP.  Suddenly. 

 

 

At the third eye we find the void.  The gap.  The space.   The stopping.

Another way to practice this is to close the eyes and watch the breath.  Begin to notice the gap at the end of the exhale and over time lengthen it.  Allow yourself to see this gap.  Feel it.  It is the entryway “in”.  To me it feels like being suspended in mid air.  It contains nothing, yet contains absolutely everything.  It is our place of peace. 

So back to choosing our thoughts.   In order to choose them, we first must be able to watch them.  In order to watch them we have to be able to detach from them to observe.  And we have to put the space back in between them so we can at least differentiate one for the next!!!  This is called meditation.    

Meditation is simply stopping to watch.  Anyone can do it.  I have many people tell me they can’t meditate because their mind is too busy.  That is the same statement as I can’t do yoga because I am inflexible.  Which would be the same statement as I can’t diet because I am overweight.  Anyone can meditate.  It is a lifelong process that can begin at any moment.  A daily practice – as all parts of the yoga journey are.  I have heard meditation referred to as “dental floss for the brain”.    I love that!

Meditation needs no financial investment – just the desire to know yourself better and to feel better.  You can sit in a chair, or on the floor or your bed, with a pillow propped under you so that your hips are slightly elevated.  But sitting as opposed to lying.    And start with just 10 minutes.  Everyone has 10 minutes each day.  Everyone.  And pick a time that you can do every day.  Morning works well for this.  Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier, brush your teeth, go to the bathroom and then sit.  It will give you back much more than 15 minutes of sleep ever could hope to (or just go to bed 15 minutes earlier!). 

I like to wrap my shawl around me.  It tells my body that it is time to be still, like going into a cocoon.  Then close your eyes.  Take a quick scan through the body to release any holding.   Then watch your breath.  Just watch.  You can count your breaths backward starting from 50, or you can watch and feel that space at the end of every exhale.  And when the mind begins to wander……and it will……just notice.  See where it went, and then bring it back to the breath.  Over and over and over.

When you are finished, awaken the emotion of gratitude in your heart and send its vibration out.  Thank the Universe, and then open your eyes.    Aaaaaahhhhh….ready to begin your day from this place of peace. 

Like any new habit we are trying to form, it will take time.  But since “you” are the commander in chief, and not your mind, all you have to do is decide that you are going to do it.  That’s it!  Just decide and do it every day for a month and watch what happens.     Oh, and when your mind tries to talk you out of it each day…..notice that too. 

Meditate, live vividly.

Ooooommmmmmmmm……………………

SARAH

Throat.....baring your soul

Yogis,

This week we drew from deep within, allowed the energy to rise, and then toned, screamed, roared and sent our vibration out.  And it felt very freeing! Expressing our true selves.  Finding our authentic voice.

We all have many voices we use – our parent voice, our spouse voice, our friend voice, our board member voice, our work voice…..and they go on and on.  Usually each one slightly different in words used, body movements, facial expression and sometimes even the pitch of our voice.    Each one tuned to what we feel is “expected” or “accepted”.   We build these voices based on life experiences and how we were responded to when we “spoke up”. 

As social creatures we want to belong and be acknowledged.  We want to please.  We learn at a very young age what is “ok” to say at home, in school and on the playground, and we slowly develop voices around it.  Often at the expense of our one true voice. 

So here we are on this spiritual journey.  We find the stillness and see the pure potential.  We begin to feel and awaken desire to sense what it is that will make this life fulfilling.  We visualize it in detail and send it out to the universe fueling the inner passion, and believing we can do it.  Then at the heart we start to sense there is a benevolent energy much bigger than us that we can  surrender to with utter trust to support us…………  But then we must begin to express it.  It has to make its way passed the throat and out into the Universe to make it real.  I have to begin to speak as ME. 

The throat is a very narrow channel and it is easy to  get in the habit of “swallowing our words”, becoming choked up, or having a lump in the throat.   The archetype of the closed throat is the silent child, and it is often the cause of throat issues, TMJ and tension in the neck.  Our radiant inner energy, our truth, expanding and yearning  to get out and be heard, but trapped.  It is often said – that which you cannot communicate will control you. 

What this isn’t – telling people what you think.    That is the flow from the brain out the mouth.  No throat really involved there.    Vishuddha is our place of purification and free will.  Here we are communicating from the soul.  The flow is from the tailbone through your very core and out the mouth.  Speaking from the heart.  These words are honest, meaningful and pure and resonate perfectly with what is on the inside.  Letting ourselves be seen.

So this week as you are speaking, begin to notice where the words are coming from.   And if you find they are just a pouring out of the mind’s inner dialog, take a pause.  Drop your awareness to your tailbone and slowly draw an inhale up along the spine, through a wide open throat and send an expressive exhale out the mouth.  Changing the flow.  Sending you out!

My soul speaking to yours,

SARAH