......the superhighway of gratitude

 

Yogis,

 

Ok,  so I have decided I want to live life with an open heart.  Being fully present for not only the highs of love and bliss, but also having the courage to sit with the lows of sorrow and grief.  I want to live life fully.  But how do I get there?

Like anything else that you desire.  Choose it.  See it clearly…..and then take those baby steps.   Daily Practice. 

And………I believe one of the super highways to an open heart (go directly there without passing go) is via  the path of gratitude – in the DC area this would be those new 495 HOV lanes.  The Universe loves gratitude! 

This is a simple practice that everyone can do, but you must do it.  Mindfully.  Every day.  As you go through your day begin to notice those things that catch your eye, those small things that are special, those things that just happen………..  Seeing the moon in the sky.  A stranger looks you in the eye and smiles.  The warmth of the blanket as you snuggle into bed.  The smell of dinner cooking.  

Notice.  But then go the extra step and say Thank You! Internally….or for more oomph.. aloud (much more on this at the throat chakra).  Just Thank You to the Universe.  Or “moon you are so beautiful!”  Feel the gratitude, but the real practice here is to send it outward.  Begin that exchange.   And the more you do this, the more things will come your way to be grateful for!  Try it.

 

 

Every morning I sit on my bed to meditate from 6:30 to 7.  And this time of year the sun begins to rise during that ½ hour, so that when I finish and look over my right shoulder, the sky and clouds have become an exquisite coral color.   It takes my breath away every time.  Thank you Universe!

The full moon this week was spectacular.  I tried to see it rise each night, and without fail when I would get up for my second trip to the bathroom during the night (so is this what everyone has been talking about?), she is beaming in through the window lighting my way.  Thank you Goddess!

On Thursday I took my walk to the river and sat in my usual spot.  There is a tree to my left that has fallen.  I always touch it and notice it, but this week was different.  It was as if it reached out to me and made me really “see” it.   And what I saw was so beautiful.  My new nickname for him is “my Ogre Tree”.  Thank you tree!

  Front View

 

  Side View

For those who have been coming to classes the last few weeks, there has been a very special energy we have all created together.  Something a little different than usual. Have you all been able to feel it?   Thank you yoga!

My garden is now almost all brown and brittle, rustling in the wind.   But as I walked it the other night I realized that  the plants offer a different gift every season.  Their message now is to rest and allow everything that has come in over these last 6 months to settle into my bones.  To go inward and prepare the soil for the next planting season.  Thank you plants!

And finally………On Monday night I went into the center of my wheel in the dark under the full moon.  Now I haven’t seen Bunny Rabbit in 3 weeks.  I had accepted that he had moved on for the winter.  Oh no.  He came hopping right up to my feet!  After much gushing and loud exclamations of delight, I sat and fed him and then we sat together quietly for 20 minutes under the moon.  Aaaahhhhh……….Thank you Bunny Rabbit!

The reason we have to pull the shoulders back and spread the front of the chest for heart opening is that when it begins to open it gets so much bigger!  It needs a whole lot more space…..

Thank you all for reading my words, sharing your thoughts, giving me hugs and most of all for letting me “see” you,

SARAH

Peaks and valleys.....the path of an open heart.

Yogis,

Living life with an open heart……………….

                Leading life from the heart……………….

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  It’s almost cliché.  Of course we all try to do that.  Of course we want that.  But are we strong enough to really do it?  Do we even know what it means?  Can we live from that place of vulnerability all the time and not simply when it is easy?  Because when the heart is wide open……it will get hurt. 

This is why we practice fire before coming up to the heart.  Having an open heart takes a whole lot of courage.

This is what having an open heart might look like.
 

See those peaks.  Oh we all spend our lives seeking those.  Joy.  Pure bliss.  Unconditional love.  They make us light and airy, as if floating above the earth.  The heart blooming like a perfect rose, about to burst right through the front of our chest.   Powerful.  Exhilarating.  When we are here we love everyone and everything.

Now…..see those valleys.  Sigh.  Grief.  Unfulfilled longings.  Wrenching sorrow.  Lost love.  These drop us down with a loud thud, feeling as if it isn’t possible to go any lower.  The heart clenching into a tight fist.  Withdrawal.   When we are here it seems it is all we can do to keep from drowning. 

Well then,  I just won’t allow myself to feel those valleys.  That’s easy.  When life presents one to me I will just shut down my emotions.  I will go on as if nothing is happening.  I will look the other way.  I just won’t GO there. 

And that is certainly a choice we can make.  But you know what?  Here is how it looks when we choose it.

 

Because if we pull in from the lows, there is an equal and offsetting retreat from the highs.   Living here is called “comfortably numb”.    And we can find this place through busying ourselves, alcohol or drugs.  And many do.  It can seem safer.

But this isn’t living.

The only reason the grief feels so all encompassing is because the love we had was so brilliant.  The unfulfilled longings feel so hollow only because we have tasted the sweetness of fulfillment.  They are one in the same and if you dampen one you dampen the other.

 

So can you keep an open heart through the waves?

This is why we practice fire before getting to the heart.  It takes tremendous inner strength combined with the unwavering faith that we find in the heart to be able to sit with it all.   To feel it, be with it and watch it knowing that like everything outside the soul, this too shall pass.   

I know I for one want this. 

 

 

So I will SEE it……and continue to practice.  Baby steps toward becoming comfortable in the uncomfortable.  Not willing to settle for a life half lived.  Knowing I am always held.

Drawing the shoulders back to expose my heart,

SARAH

the wind at my back

Yogis,

Three weeks of fire practice for many of you!  Building both inner and outer strength, and a sense of “I CAN do anything”.

    ……..yeah I saw a lot more feet come off the ground in crow pose this week than ever before…..

Have you been setting your intention?  Seeing it clearly and stating it with conviction every day? 

                My blood pressure is going down.

                                I am writing a book.

                                                Money flows in and out of my life in abundance.

                                                                I sleep soundly at night.

                                                                                I am relaxed and peaceful.

Whatever it is that you want!  State it so many times that it begins to vibrate within you.  Because what you send out is what you will draw back – so make sure it is what you want..

Earth….we prepared the soil.   Water…..we gave it moisture and aliveness.   Fire……we planted the seed and gave it light.    We then simply tend to it daily -  taking those baby steps toward our intention, moving forward and taking action with confidence. 

And then let go of the reins with complete and unquestioning faith that it will grow.

The Heart. 

It is here that we move from me to we.  From an inward focus on what I can do, to an outward sensing of the incredible benevolent force of the Universe.  There to support us in whatever we choose to do. 

Our job is the choosing.  The knowing what I want, stating it and beginning the movement toward it.  Our job is the “what” and the focus.  The Universe’s job, however, is the how. 

But you have to be able to let go and trust.  Completely.  With every cell in your being.  Knowing it will manifest. 

Somehow we seem to do this so simply in the garden.  We plant the seed, give it water, light and love, and then trust that from a seed the size of a speck, a large plant will grow and feed us.  No need to dig it up each day to see if anything is happening.  We just believe that this miracle will happen year after year after year. 

Not quite as easy in our own daily lives.   That is why we practiced fired for 3 weeks!  It takes courage.  It takes an open heart that is willing to feel it all.   

So allow yourself to be steered.  Feel the breeze at your back guiding you.  Be carried.  Accept unexpected turns in the path as gifts.  Know the destination but don’t demand a certain route – another route may have so much more beauty along the way.

Leave the details to the Universe. 

….and the next time you are out in the wind, face into it, close your eyes and open yourself up.  A hug from the Universe.

I love this journey,

SARAH

I CAN.........except for maybe that

Yogis,

Many of you who were reading my blog last year may remember that at about this same time, while teaching the throat chakra, I lost my voice and ended up with a sinus infection.  Well last week, while teaching fire, I developed a fever and everything once again began to settle into my sinus cavities. 

It was uncomfortable.  But what was even more uncomfortable for me was having to admit that I was sick and cancelling a few classes.  I believe that may be the first time I have cancelled for illness.   I am a fire by nature – disciplined, moving forward, convinced that “I Can”…..even when I can’t.

I felt much better on Friday and Saturday.  Then last night – Sunday – my time to write arrived.  I am “supposed to write”.   I “always write on Sunday”.    But my sinuses again felt full and I had zero clarity.  Nothing to write about.  So again…. I stepped out of my comfort zone….and simply didn’t write.    Instead soaked in my tub with bath salts.  Feeling so much better after.  Learning that while it may be uncomfortable, stepping back to nurture myself when needed is a good thing. 

We learn when we go into that space of discomfort.  We see.

So how many of you truly believe that you create your lives??  Let’s see a show of hands.

That you determine your future moments. That life doesn’t just happen to you.  That you are an infinite creator….of anything that you want?

Have you been planting your intention?  It always starts with a vision.  Clarity of sight and planting it deep within.   But then we must take those baby steps, and many of them will be uncomfortable.

The known is very comfortable.   Even when it may be negative, it often seems easier to just keep doing the same known things than to start the wheels of change.  Staying in an unfulfilling job or relationship, continuing to live with physical discomfort, remaining on a committee or board for which you no longer have a passion.  Sometimes less effort than stepping that big toe out of the “comfort box” you have constructed.    But in the known there is very little growth and not a whole lot of transformation or ecstasy.    

The real power of aliveness lies in the unknown.  But it takes some courage to go there and some discipline to keep moving through it even when there is discomfort.

For those of you who take yoga, think about the poses that you believe you can’t do.  The ones where when the teacher calls for them, an UGH goes through your mind, and maybe you decide it is a good time to get a quick drink of water or blow your nose so you don’t have to be in it for quite as long.  The ones where you have convinced yourself that your body just doesn’t do that.

And discomfort can come in many forms.  There is the obvious physical discomfort – like holding plank for a full minute when your arms are shaking.  But there can just as easily be emotional discomfort.  Perhaps you are uncomfortable with chest openers because you are self-conscious of your breasts.  Maybe arm balancing brings fear to the surface because of buried trust issues.  Or the shake you have in your hand may be noticed when we are asked to settle into stillness in a pose. 

For me it was seated wide legged forward fold.  As a young girl taking gymnastic lessons I could do all of the back bends but never could spread my legs and get within even a few feet of the floor when I folded.  Ever.  I watched most of the girls as they lay flat on the floor between their legs as simply as you or I lift up an arm.  I was jealous.   I decided early on that my hip joints were just shaped differently and that I just couldn’t do that.  Who needed to be able to do that anyway?

Then 3 years ago I went to an Erich Schiffmann workshop, and as a 6’ 5”  yogi  he sat down, spread his legs, lowered down to rest on his elbows and talked to us from there for 5 minutes.   And he commented that as yoga teachers this was one of the important poses and we should all work to do it.   UGH. 

So I went home and for maybe 2 months I half-heartedly tried.  But it was uncomfortable and I wasn’t seeing fast enough progress.  I began finding reasons why I couldn’t end with that pose – seeming to always run out of time, until finally it faded from my practice.  Who needs to do that anyway?  And besides….my hip joints are shaped differently. 

Fast forward to this year when I am back again learning from Erich and it all came flooding in once more.  This time I knew it required me to set this pose as an intention……..and to take the baby steps toward it day after day after day after day.  That to continue to grow in my practice, which is simply a mirror of life, I had to step into the unknown with conviction.  And so I have for the last 7 months.  

And you know what?  My hip bones are not shaped differently!  I can’t lie anywhere close to flat on the floor and that isn’t what this is all about.  But I can go so much deeper than I could at 8 or 14 or 20 years old.   And while It is still uncomfortable, I have grown to enjoy the discomfort associated with the new growth…..the possibilities…..my limitless potential. 

         Erich Schiffmann

What is it for you?   Set an intention and see it with an unwavering focus.

I can,

SARAH