We don't exhale enough........

Yogis,

Take a moment to simply observe your breath.  What happens on the inhale?  What words would you use to describe it?  What about the exhales?  How do they make you feel?  How do they differ from each other?

Lately I have noticed that we have become  a world filled with inhaling…....with not nearly enough exhaling.

 

As a baby we enter the world with that very first magnificent drawing in of life through our breath.    The inhale.  The taking in, expanding, growing and filling.  Breathing in all of the joy and opportunity that life has to offer.

Our childhood and busy young adult lives are represented by the inhale.  The waxing moon, reaching its peak when full.  The lengthening days that fill the space between the winter and summer solstice, providing us steadily increasing light by which more can be done.   The time each day from the approaching dawn until that point in the late afternoon when you can feel that downward shift of energy which signals the march toward dusk.

The inhale allows us to move forward in our careers, buy houses to fill with children and  beautiful things, expand our talents and run fast.  It is the receiving…..the taking in.

But with breath, just as with everything in life there is the necessary opposite flow….the exhale.  The letting go.  But many  of us have lost touch with this amazing friend that we have right inside.

Our world is filled with so much intensity and so many possibilities, that it becomes tempting to inhale, inhale, inhale.  Go. Go. Go.   More. More. More. That feeling of always having to stay “one step in front of” the other person, the to do list, or  the next big sale.  The fear of exhaling perhaps because it may be seen as a form of weakness.  Of not trying hard enough.  We have somehow all been convinced that more is better (think about that for a moment), and it is the inhale that will bring it to us.  Forward motion.

But the consistent inhaling of our society is taking its toll.   Sleeplessness is rampant.  Stiff necks, upset stomachs, locked jaws and an ever increasing numbers of those with heart disease.   We live in a world filled with stress and when we chest breathe and inhale more than we exhale, we invite it in and serve it tea.  And once it has settled in and gotten comfortable there, eventually it will show itself to you in the form of an ache, pain or illness.  

Luckily for all of us, we have the best prescription there is within us at all times……..the exhale.  Long, slow, complete, relaxing exhales.   But you have to practice!   Exhaling completely.   Exhaling more.  Way past the point where you normally stop.  Emptying.  Notice how after just a few of them your mind slows and muscles soften. 

I just returned from a week at the beach with a group of about 40 friends (no we don’t stay in one house!).   On vacations we eventually begin to exhale more so that by the end of the week everyone even looks slightly different.  The shoulders drop down from the ears.  The lips soften and the hands relax.   And I noticed that when we exhale more there is a lot more laughing/giggling/general silliness and dancing.  Yes!

So my message is not to step out of life or to take a permanent vacation.  But simply to exhale more.  We can allow the stress to come in with the inhale as long as we show it to the door  with the exhale.   Moving forward, but remembering to also step back to observe.   Bringing new in, but being sure to let the old go at the same rate, or life becomes much too crowded.  Everything should flow through us without the need to attach and hold on.  

Flowing in…..flowing out.   Be aware.  Exhale more.  You will be glad you did.

Giggling until my sides ached,

SARAH

Do you know truth when you see it?

Yogis,

Hot enough for you!  Whew!  Slows you way down and gets that sweat pouring.  Everything in the garden and behind my house now feels so full and alive.  Summer has definitely arrived…..  and with it, my butterfly weed.

 

Last week I spoke to the first of the yamas.  Ahimsa.  In its simplest sense, non violence, but so much deeper.  We are truly living ahimsa when the desire to harm is no longer present.  Where the very idea of causing injury is inconceivable.  Treating everything and everyone as sacred – including ourselves.  This is the bedrock of the yogic path.

Now we move to the second yama.  Satya.  Truth. 

Truth.  Well that’s a little simpler isn’t it?  Or is it.   The more I sat this week with the concept of truth and the concept of living from a place of truth, the more complex it has become. 

Once again we have the simple definition.  Not lying.  Not exaggerating, boasting or speaking things that are untrue.  Pretty basic, but that all assumes we have clarity as to what is true.    So ask yourself,  what is true?

Now it’s not that I believe most people walk around deliberately lying.  But we tend to speak what we “believe” to be true and that differs for each of us.   We all have our perceptions and our newest talk track often depends on what we heard on the news that morning, or what someone “told us”.  Our upbringing, economic status, physical abilities and emotional state each put their own angle on how we perceive life.  Our different lens that we view life from  give all of us a slightly distorted view.  Like viewing life through a kaleidoscope. 

A book that I just finished happened to have a paragraph that talked about the word truth.  It said that the words truth and tree both originally come from the same root word.  So truth is simply a deeply rooted belief.    But these can change as our life situation changes, or we mature, or there are new “findings”.  What we clung to as truth no longer fits and we shift. 

The world is flat.  Oh no, sorry it is round.  Low fat is the best diet.  Oh gosh sorry, we need fat so eat plenty of avocados and nuts.  Stay out of the sun.  Darn, what we really meant is get at least 10 minutes a day to keep your vitamin D up.   And so on. 

So back to my original question……what is true?    How can we live from a place of truth?

I searched further and I found one definition of truth that began to make some sense to me.  “Truth is that which is unchangeable.”  Now that begins to feel right.   

So I have been asking the Universe what are those things that are true, that are unchangeable.  The one that keeps coming back to me is “spirit” or “self”.  I talk often to how we are each one unique spark of the universal energy.  And we are each perfect.  We are ALL born open, loving and special and it is only life’s layering on us that causes us to question that.  But that inner self, the one that you can feel and touch when you close your eyes and go inward, that part that feels exactly the same now as it did when you were 8 years old – that never changes.  That is your place of  truth.

Yoga is a journey that helps us peel back the layers of life to reconnect and live again from that space.  I can say that every time I finish my daily meditation or my asana practice, I feel closer to truth then I did when I started.  But then it slips away.  So I do it over and over and over.  Inching my way closer and closer to source. 

The other times I feel truth knocking on my door is when I am connected to nature, music or writing.  These are the times I am the most present.  Where I shift from the thinking mind to the feeling mind.   I don’t believe that the thinking mind is capable of deciphering  truth for us, nor is it meant to.  Satya is felt in the body.

I have a baby bunny living in my backyard who spends most of her day in my garden.  The other night when I went out she hopped right over and let me take her picture.  The love and connection I felt with her at that moment was satya.  How could you possibly look into those eyes and not see truth…..

I see each and every one of you,

SARAH

Yoga....is it something we do?

Dear Yogis,

Yoga.  Everyone is doing it!  Yoga studios are springing up everywhere.  Yoga clothes from stores like Lululemon are creeping into everyday life.  Yoga channels.  Yoga sites.  Yoga in schools.   Even yoga for dogs!

But what really is yoga?  Can we really "do" yoga......or is there more to it than that?

I have been practicing asana for 15 years now.   After the first ten I was drawn to meditation.  Then my diet began to change.  And slowly but surely yoga has crept into my very perception of life and my aspirations of how I want to "be" in it.

I can see clearly now that we don't "do" yoga...... that yoga is a way of being.

The doing comes in the form of the discipline of the consistent asana practice.  But asana is only one of the limbs that comprise the 8 limbs of yoga.  It is where most of us enter the yogic path, yet is only one small part of the wonder that yoga can  bring to our lives.

So let's step back to the beginning - the first limb - which are the Yamas.  There are five yamas.  They are guideposts on how to live ethically.....right living.  And the very first Yama, the bedrock upon which all of yoga rests is Ahimsa.

Ahimsa in its literal translation means non-violence.  OK check!  I got that one.  I have never killed anyone and I don't get into fights.  I am not a violent person so I am good on this one......right?  But ahimsa is not one we can slide by quite so quickly.

The most rudimentary concept that ahimsa, and all of yoga, is built on is that all things are sacred.  All people.  All creatures.  The water. The air.  The earth.  Our breath.  And that therefore we should not cause harm to any of them.

And not cause harm not only by our hand, but also not by our words, .  Hmmm.   Now that's a little more challenging.  Ahimsa would mean no longer speaking ill of others, gossiping or degrading anyone who may be different than us.   It is when the tongue loses its ability to injure.

But then one step further, not even in thought.  Wow.  No mean spirited thoughts.  No inner dialog on how we will "show them" a thing or two.   Not even any harmful or negative thoughts about yourself!

But even one step further......  the deeper meaning of ahimsa is not that we do not harm, but that the desire to harm within us no longer exists!  That we are completely clear of any desire to cause injury to anything.  So it is not "not doing harm" which would just be a form of restraint, but instead is such an expansive fulfilled strength within that the need to compare, compete, take from or lessen others vanishes.  How amazingly freeing that would feel!

So ahimsa, like all of yoga, isn't something we do.  It is something we become by following the practices.

One definition of ahimsa that I found in my reading which I believe begins to describe its sheer power is this:
    ~ the force that is unleashed when all desire to harm has been eradicated

It would be like comparing hate to love.   Love isn't "not hating".  Love is an amazing force whose brilliance shines when hate no longer exists. 

Yoga....Ahimsa.....Love.    Even the bugs.

Being,
SARAH

Welcome to this moment!

Yogis,

Stop whatever you are doing.  Simply stop. 

Notice how you are sitting and feel where your sit bones are making contact with the chair.  Plant your feet on the floor beneath you.  Feel the texture of the floor.  Imagine roots growing out through the feet and the sit bones.  Get settled.

Begin to  feel the space you are occupying.  No rush.  Now slowly look at all that surrounds you.  Look as if you have never seen it before.  See all of the colors and textures. 

Start to notice the sounds around you….first those that are close…..and slowly expanding out to those in the distance.  Take your time. 

Draw your awareness back now and shift it into the body.  What sensations are you having right now?    Feel them fully. 

Begin to notice your breath.  The inhale as it traces the line through the center of the body from the pelvic floor to the open crown of the head.  Filling.  Expanding.  Lifting.  Then the exhale as it traces the line back down, leaving the body and taking with it anything you no longer need.  Emptying.  Draining.  Heavy.  Take 3 more breaths in this manner.

So now here you are…..at the present moment.  Welcome!

 

It is only in the present moment that life happens.  Not tomorrow, and not last week.  Only right here, right now.  Notice how the word for right now is present……it is a gift.  Every single one of them a gift waiting to be opened. 

So often we find ourselves waiting for some future moment.  As soon as this project is done.  As soon as I retire.  Once the kids are gone.   Next year, later……  But once we get to that perceived future moment, things are no different than they are at this moment, yet we raced through thousands of others without fully embracing them.

Or we replay past moments, often years later, wishing things were like they were then.  Attached to a memory while life happens around us, without us noticing. 

Or we fill up our days so completely that all of the moments blur.  Getting a lot “done” but with nothing that takes your breath away. 

Every day is comprised of thousands of moments.  Each one as completely unique as a snowflake.  Each one a chance for something amazing……but you have to be present to win. 

So how can I be “here” more?  By letting go.  Letting go.  Letting go.    And the best teacher, which you carry with you wherever you go, is your breath.  Your breath is your connection to now. 

So stop again.   Simply stop.   Take a slow mindful breath and on the exhale relax your muscles.  Now imagine you have many layers…like an onion…and on the next breath relax one layer deeper.  And again.  And again.  Until you are relaxing your muscles all the way to your center.   As if you are melting.   Take 5 more breaths in this completely relaxed state. 

So now here you are…..at the present moment again.  But so different than the last one.  Welcome!

 

 

This is mindfulness practice.  And it does take practice!  But it is so worth it. 

This week try putting several “present moment” appointments on your calendar or in your phone.   When the reminder pops up – stop…....simply stop.    Breathe, notice and open your gift.  Over and over and over. 

Aaaaahhhhhhhhh………………

Amazed by life,

SARAH