The pleasures of the present: How you can bring yourself back home

A quote by Lao Tzu really spoke to me yesterday, "If you are depressed, you are living in the past.  If you are anxious, you are living in the future.  If you are at peace, you are living in the present."

Definitely, easier said than done, I know.  But what if everyone could just for a moment, just be.  That would be wonderful!  Again, it's not an easy task for everyone, especially when you got a lot going on such as work, school, kids, family, bills, fun, etc.

Whenever I find myself anxious, depressed or in a fearful state, I try to remember to do the following:

1.  Stop and breathe.  If possible, I find a space to be alone (even if it's in the bathroom!).  I stand or sit and feel my feet touching the floor and wiggle my toes.  Then I work my up to my legs, hips, abdomen, chest, arms, hands, and all the up to my head.  From there I take a nice, deep belly breath.  If I'm overly anxious, my chest area may be tight, so I give myself a few breaths until I can reach my belly.  Rushing just makes it worse!

2.  After I feel more grounded and in my body, I think of something that IS working in my life NOW.  For example, I just leased a car; got a yoga teaching job; made a friend in dance class; or even getting laundry done.When we get anxious, we tend to go (as the quote says above) way ahead into the future and create a catastrophe or chaotic situation that we don't really want to happen anyway; if X doesn't get done, Y will happen.  So shoot for what you DO want to happen!

3.  If none of that works, I call a friend, a Life Coach, or someone that I can trust.  This isn't always easy for people either, because if you knew me well, in the past, I thought I had to figure everything out on my own.  Sometimes if we can't find a solution because we're too much in "our stuff" or our heads about something, it's great when an outside person can help reframe it for you and offer support.  Dwelling on the problem or situation isn't going to get you anywhere.  We tend to self-judge and be hard on ourselves. 

When we are present, everything is clear.  That doesn't mean it's always a happy time.  But if we can allow ourselves to be more present with the situations, feelings and experiences at hand, all the uncomfortable will pass more quickly and with ease.  We will be able to get to that joyful state faster because we've allowed ourselves to just be and nothing else.  Just at home within ourselves.

Do you find yourself dwelling somewhere in the past that's holding you back from what you want now? When something comes up, do you automatically jump to the worst case scenario and get stuck there? What do you do for yourself to come back to the present moment?

One Moment in Time

I love what this article says about attachment. It's not just in yoga practice, but also in things that shows up in daily life.  In regards to my yoga practice, I've been finding that there are certain poses that are difficult now.  I get agitated over this, but I keep going. I acknowledge why I feel agitated and then it moves through me and I continue with the practice.  

Since a big shift has happened in my life, I've been wanting to find more time for yoga practice and also "me practice." The "me practice" is not just yoga, but other mindfulness-based practices that I've picked up over the years in my various trainings. I want to embrace each moment when things come up for me, no matter how scary it may be.  It's a way of being. It is what is.

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(From Yoga Journal Daily Insight)

As the Buddha said, impermanence is the nature of the human condition. This is a truth we know in our minds but tend to resist in our hearts. Change happens all around us, all the time, yet we long for the predictable, the consistent. We want the reassurance that comes from things remaining the same. Yoga philosophy offers an alternative to these tendencies. It is to embrace the powerful truth: the power of living in the unchanging, eternal present.

We can even look to our yoga mat to watch the attachment pattern play itself out. We often find ourselves attached to a never-ending process of "improvement" in our asanas. They do improve quickly at first—in the beginning, we are on a honeymoon of discovery; we grow by leaps and bounds in ability and understanding. After a couple of decades, however, our poses change much less. Oftentimes, we can no longer practice certain poses because of age or injury, yet we feel agitated because we assume that the poses of our youth should be the poses of our middle and old age.

What gives life its juice is the ability to mourn anything fully and simultaneously know it doesn't ultimately matter. In other words, we can live to the fullest when we recognize that our suffering is based not on the fact of impermanence but rather on our reaction to that impermanence.

After the Laundry, the Laundry

http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/1248

Polishing the Mirror

http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/2523

going with the flow

it's definitely a flow day today. i'm not pushing myself to do anything. if I feel like doing some kind of task--dishes, tidying, reading--i'll do it. but I'll do it because i want to. not because i SHOULD do. i'm so sick of that. it feels good to just go with the flow. listen to some tunes on pandora. facebook. email. blogging. filling out disability forms. thinking of nana.

I know it's going to be all good. it's going to be okay. there's so much support I really couldn't ask for anything more. bring it on.