......life on the floor

Yogis,

I always tell my yoga students that if nothing else, coming to yoga once a week gets them up and down from the floor several times over the hour and a half.  An important ability which is second nature to children as they flop down, a little more deliberate in young adults and a lot creakier and less frequent in midlife.  One of those ‘use it or lose it’ life skills.

I have always thought of myself as someone who spends much time on the floor. Teaching, practicing, playing with Phoebe and working in the garden. But as I sat on the couch and opened up Yin Yoga, the book I was to read for my course, the first page said to get off the couch or chair and get down on the floor. To read the entire book on the floor.  So I did…….

I then went to Vancouver and spent 7 hours a day on the floor for 7 straight days! And I noticed differences. Then and there I set the intention to continue living more of life on the floor on my return.  Luck would have it – thank you Universe! – that a neighbor had recently given me a large very low coffee table that is perfect for reading, eating and computer work all while my butt makes contact with the ground below.  I am sitting here now as I write……

Many say that two of the worst inventions for human health were the chair and the toilet. I will save the toilet for another discussion, but we were not designed to sit in chairs. And we spend a whole lot of our life in them!  Working, eating, driving, reading, socializing and watching tv.

Studies are finding that the ability to get up and down from the floor without support or many touch points is one indicator of longevity.  That alone can grab your attention.  

But there are so many other benefits! The hips and ankles begin to slowly open, it is relaxing to the nervous system, the back muscles strengthen for improved posture, the heart receives more circulation and overall flexibility increases.  

Try it! Give it a month as it takes 30 days to make something a habit. Perhaps you set the intention to do all reading on the floor. Or whenever you use your phone to talk or email.  Maybe eat one meal a day there.  

As you sit, you can move about as much as needed.  Sometimes I am cross legged, and then it will feel good to spread my legs wide or send them straight forward.  Other times I sit on my feet or even curl my toes under and sit on my heels for a minute of two (counteracts the effect of our shoes). Maybe soles of the feet together and knees apart.  Doesn’t matter!  Simply get down there and stay for some period of time. Often. Make it a lifestyle.

Others may look at you funny. Your dog will absolutely love it. The view will be new. And over time you will notice changes……..

I would love to hear how it goes! Send me a report - from the floor of course.

Floor dwelling,
SARAH

......unknown

Yogis,

Complicated.  The word most commonly used. Emotional, changeable, unpredictable are others thrown about loosely as if being a woman can be rolled up and tucked neatly into a single word.

Unknown would be a better choice……..

I am the goddess. The feminine. The creative force. The Divine in motion.

To know me is to feel me.

I cannot be known from afar. What you see as I pass by is only my mask. The character I chose to play that day as I stood naked in my closet. I can change it at whim or stay in my role for years to come. No one suspecting what lies beneath this exterior I inhabit for this particular human journey.

To know me you must come closer.  Even closer, for my eyes hold the windows to my soul. Only when you fall quiet, dropping all judgment and fear to gaze within can you begin to dive into the many layers buried in this creature you call woman.

You think I’m hard to follow? That’s because you are looking for straight lines where I only have curves. Release your grip and go for the ride. Swim in my beauty and flow on the kindness, gentleness and compassion I offer up as my gifts. Lose yourself in my intoxicating aroma while I watch over you.

I am the scent of the flower, the juice of the ripest berry, the golden sweetness of honey and the endless hues of the rainbow.  I am vibrant, succulent, juicy and sensual. But don’t be fooled. Oh no. I am not weak. There resides in me a steady burning flame. Her name is passion. I am powerful, protective and fierce when the world around me or those I love are wronged.

I am earth. The all-knowing mother. I am the cool caress of the moon’s soft light. Tides and the never-ending miracle of changing seasons are me. I am abundance. I feed you, heal you and offer you a place to rest.

Complicated? I think not. I am life itself…..moving, changing and messy.

Know me,
SARAH

.....currents

Yogis,

Our town is undergoing a total redo of the roads. Updated and added curbs, concrete work, replaced sub roads and finally paving. As I run the neighborhood I observe the slow painstaking progress.

On one road they had added a concrete curb with a drain pipe running through it around the corner and partly down the road’s hill.  It abruptly ended at the edge of someone’s front yard.  The sewer was further down the road.  I thought that was odd and was glad that was not my front yard as I envisioned everyone else’s water gathering to pool on the grass.

Jump ahead 5 months. I run by and now see new paint markings indicating yet another curb to be installed along the front of that yard.  Hello…. The families front yard grass showing distress and the edge of the road where the pipe dumped out already crumbling. Now these are engineers in charge of this project, but this humble yoga teacher knew from the beginning that there was a major design flaw. 

I teach about the five elements that form the foundation of all we are and see and I know that the energy of water is flow. Water as shapeless and formless does not resist. It will move in the direction of the energy placed upon it. Provide a proper path and it will follow it with ease. Like a stream.  A current.  Take away the boundaries and it will spread. The engineers wanted it to continue down to the drain but provided no guidance.

That same night I was reading a David Frawley book for teacher training and came across a concept I had never seen.  It has to do with our soul.  You know – that part of you deep inside which you only touch when you are alone and quiet.  That piece of you that is unchanging and at times aches for fulfillment. In yogic teachings each soul is a unique spark of the Divine (or great mystery, universe, nature, God, higher self – the power greater than you).

There exists between the Divine and your soul two magnetic forces. Two currents. One is Divine attraction where you are drawn to the inner world. Living life inspired by a merging back to who you really are. Finding joy and contentment inside. The outer world there to be loved, enjoyed and cared for but never viewed as the source of inner peace.

The other is Divine repulsion. Here the attraction is away and instead directed toward and magnetizing the outer world.  It creates the ego. Looking for happiness in our job titles, large houses, accumulated wealth, alcohol. Those quick highs of getting another ‘like’ on Facebook or purchasing a new outfit. Attachments to what lies outside.

Because so many trees have come down, more houses have gone up and we are experiencing harder rains, water runoff has become a big issue here and the street project is supposed to help. We seem to have this larger and larger gushing stream and trying to guide it without proper banks.  Much of the world seems a bit like this right now. Greed, materialism and power directing the flow and once water energy is in a flow, the groove it creates become deeper and deeper.

As any current though, we can change its direction. It takes designing and building the new path which isn’t easy. Mindfulness, silence, meditation, communing with nature and compassion are some cornerstones. And once the water shifts, the new energy becomes ‘irresistible’ and ‘carries us like a log on a fast-flowing stream’. Back toward.

Which current are you placing your raft in? I know I am not allowing those particular engineers to choose mine……..

Magnetized,
SARAH

.......birds

Yogis,

Birds play a prominent role in my life. With their varied shapes, sizes, habits and voices they act as small landmarks for me as to the time of day, time of year or stage of life.

For more than half the year my morning runs are devoid of birds. It goes on for so long that I forget. Then one morning, without warning, as I head up my street for the last stretch I will hear it. The tweet of an early morning bird calling out into the silence, before the sun rises. Those mornings are when I know spring is most certainly close by! Each day thereafter, more of them speak up and earlier in the run, until finally their serenade accompanies me for the duration. 

Around that same time the robins arrive in force. I never tire of watching them hop along the grass, stopping to cock their head and listen. Such serious faces they have. Then in the blink of an eye, their beak dives into the earth to draw up breakfast. When the robins are around I know that the worms who make my garden such fertile soil have woken up. Anxious to get my hands in the dirt.

By mid-April the trees seem to vibrate with the raucous of the birds. They have so much to say! I visualize that they have all returned home from tiring journeys, and like good friends who have been apart, they can’t wait to tell everyone everything that has happened over the long cold winter. All speaking over each other as they burst with news. 

And in those conversations some natural attraction occurs as I begin to see the ducks and geese swimming in pairs. The males protective of the females. Couples who have decided they are more than just friends. Ready to step into parenthood.

Around that same time the wrens are checking out all the possible housing in the area. I watch as they fly in and out of each of my hanging bird houses several times.  Its as if they are attending open houses, checking out the digs. I have read that the male will build a few nests in different locations and then the female will decide which one best suits her. Sound familiar? I love when she selects one of mine.

When the babies arrive the parent’s lives are dramatically changed, as I remember so well. Entire summer days spent flying back and forth to the nest with food. So busy with parenthood that they quickly realize they must learn to trust me as I work in the garden below their home. Flying so close to my head I can feel the breeze from their wings. Soon little faces peering out at me through the hole.

Before I know it in the heat of the day the yellow finches are landing on the anise hyssop and the blue jays are being their usual bossy selves to garnish the seed on the ground, while mourning doves quietly perform the end of day clean up.  I feel complete when I hear the owl at sunset.

Eventually it is time for the young ones to be sent out on their own. Often the last gangly one standing on the edge of a nest afraid to take that leap. But leap they will….or a gentle push is given. The gift of letting them go. The empty nest which I have now occupied in my own life for the past year. 

In fall I watch them overhead leaving in droves, knocking berries off trees as they swarm down as if visiting a rest stop on the highway. Sorry to see them go but knowing that is my annual signal to begin to go within once again.

If only I could fly,
SARAH

......rain

Yogis,

I have been in Vancouver British Columbia for a week now, attending a fifty-hour Yin Yoga teacher certification course.  If you know anything about the northern Pacific coast you will quickly realize that I have spent the last seven days in the rain.  

Walking alone in the early morning along the water’s edge to class in my raincoat. Gray skies and the sound of the rain as it hits my hood. Frequent bursts of heavier rain which cause me to grab for the umbrella in my backpack. Puddles beneath my feet, raindrops hanging on the studio windows as we practice and clouds hugging the mountains in the distance.  Falling asleep each night to the patter of rain on the roof overhead.  Perfect seagull weather………

The first few days I hurried along, looking for overhangs and checking my phone to see the best times to head outside. Uncomfortable as I tried to avoid the raindrops. But as the week wore on I felt a shift.

I noticed that here life continues in the rain. Runners, bikers and moms with strollers are unbothered by the damp cool air. With rain boots on they move through their day not only with ease, but with joy.  Someone told me they can tell the tourists and newcomers by who holds an umbrella. What is it about rain that always makes me run?

How perfect that I would be in this place for Yin training. In yin yoga you come into a pose and find an edge.  That place where you begin to feel something. Then you stay. For a while. Through any discomfort, distracting thoughts and welling of emotions. Learning to be ok with whatever passes through. Yin is the energy of life that allows.  The watery, cool, deep, hidden, slow, moist, receptive parts of ourselves that often aren’t nourished in this go, go go fiery yang lifestyle we all live.

As I marinated in the poses to embrace sensations, I also embraced the weather. The umbrella began to remain in the backpack and I slowed down to soak in this new climate.  Noticing how quiet it is when it rains. Voices are lower, while the geese, ducks and seagulls provide the background serenade. My skin moistening as the days passed, and as for my hair, well that’s what ponytails are for!

In yin there is a pose named Shoelace that I have always viewed, like rain, as a nuisance. Something to resist as it tugged on my outer hips. I would contract and hurry to get away.  As I leaned forward toward Shoelace I heard the goose fly overhead and it reminded me.  It reminded me to allow. To feel what I was feeling fully because that is the gift of being in this human body.

My last full day it wasn’t raining as I woke. The locals were ecstatic over the peeks of sun but somehow I felt a little disappointment. Imagine my glee when a raindrop hit my eye on the way to dinner. By the walk home along the water the rain was once again steady, and I had left the umbrella home. Thank goodness.

This week I softened into the pose and into the rain…..going toward.

‘Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.’
               ~Bob Marley

Wanting to feel it all,
SARAH

.....spring has sprung

Yogis,

Every year it catches me by surprise. It must happen overnight while my head is buried deep in my pillow. Or maybe it is while I shower. During the day I am sure I am watching, and I know I have been patiently waiting, yet it never ceases to blow me away!

The springing forth of spring!

How amazing is nature?? Only a few weeks ago the earth was barren with its multiple shades of tan and brown. How could life possibly rise from that dense, hard, cold ground. Yet yesterday as I looked about I spotted the yellow of the forsythia, the pink of the red buds and masses of puffy white flowers floating overhead on the pear trees.  

I walked the river banks through the hidden fields of bluebells. A fairy tale setting only steps from my front door. During bluebell season I feel like Snow White. Tucked back in the woods they bloom not for anyone, but simply because they are ready. Ready after a long rest to once again grow, bloom and shine their beauty outward. 

Beginning to lift the thick soggy piles of leaves off the garden I am astonished. Anise hyssop, yarrow, oregano, mugwort and burdock all smiling up at me, asking what took me so long.  Ms Stinging Nettle taking up more real estate than I had hoped, eager to help protect me from the coming allergy season. Echinacea sprouts visible where I had simply sprinkled last years dried flower heads on bare ground in the fall.  All of them ready.

Like a magic trick, the bright sunny faces of the dandelions suddenly spot my lawn as they enthusiastically wave hello.  A mood lifter indeed.  Have you ever seen a grouchy dandelion? A few delicate violet flowers mixed in to complete the color palette. 

When I get quiet I can almost hear the surge of energy bursting forth. It is a powerful force that can’t and won’t be held back. The ducks pairing up, the enthusiastic songs of the birds at dawn and the comedy of the reliable robins trying to get through my house windows. Throwing themselves against the glass…..over and over and over. 

Time now for us too to spring forward.  The season to get up off the couch, turn our faces to the sun, grow, expand and shine our beauty outward.  To begin taking those steps toward creating whatever it is that we want.  The plants are ready. Are you?

Let’s go!
SARAH

......a whirlwind

Yogis,
Ok Universe. I know I said it. I know I visualized it. Yet somehow I wasn’t expecting it to actually manifest……and so quickly! Quite the sense of humor you have. When will I believe what I teach.

Last Sunday night I ended my post like this - ‘I keep thinking that each of us should be required to spend one day a year in a mandatory service project where we are paired up with others that are completely different from ourselves.  Where we are forced to talk, work together, figure things out and look each other in the eye.’  Monday morning it all began…….

I had been summoned to report to jury duty bright and early. I packed my lunch, two books and my PC as I had been down this road before. Remembering how I sat and sat and sat in the jury lounge until finally being excused. Certain I would be home and done by 4.  But the whirlwind kicked in lifting my feet off the ground.

Almost immediately I was being led to a courtroom with 100 others in my same boat, being asked questions and waiting for the next 9 hours, until as evening arrived I found myself sitting in the jury box with 11 of my peers.  A probable two week trial beginning the next morning. 

With one simple phrase of ‘allow the juror to sit’ my calendar was wiped cleaned. The wind had swept my foundation out from under me. The Universe had other plans.

Frantic texts and emails that night as I rescheduled, cancelled, look for dog care and let everyone know I would be unavailable. My new way of life suddenly upon me. Mornings spent packing up my backpack, handing out the days instructions and commuting. The days filled with sitting, intent listening, new faces, unfamiliar terminology and plenty of ‘hurry up and wait’. 

Arriving home in the evenings only moments before a class or Reiki client. A quick dinner, figuring out who needed instructions for the next day and heading to bed. Only to begin again in the morning. With the winds old things blew over or away and were replaced by new. No time for my practice, eating different foods, living on a different schedule. By the end of the week the name of the day held no meaning as all my touchpoints were missing. Feeling as if I had been blown into unfamiliar territory.

Tomorrow begins another week. Not sure I would want to live my whole life in this windstorm, but it has given me some new perspectives.  When the winds of change come your way, there really is no better choice than to let go and be carried. Trying to control or fight against the wind does not cause you to come in for a landing and only causes suffering.  And as I have been blown about my mind has had no opportunity to think about yesterday or worry about tomorrow since the present has been requiring my full attention.  

But of course, with the discomfort of sudden change arrives growth. I will see where my feet land when the winds die down and I have the chance to look about.

Universe – I said one day!

The wind at my back,
SARAH