Day 180 January 31, 2011

You know it's cold when your dog signals to you to start heading for home when you've just hit the halfway point of your normal dog walk route.

You know it's cold when your hands start to feel like they are on fire because you were silly enough to take off your Arctic quality mittens three times to take photographs of the chisel effect of wind on snow.

You know it's cold when you feel claustrophobic inside your own skin and you only venture as far as the porch all day in an attempt to avoid the wintry blasts, a sure sign that cabin fever approaches.

You know it's cold when you look at the calendar and see that there are two more solid months of winter left in Nova Scotia.

You know it's cold when you dream of diving into turquoise waters somewhere very tropical.

You know it's ... always going to be something, isn't it?

Cuba

Day 179 January 30, 2011

Are you compassionate towards yourself?  If you have a bout of depression or self doubt, can you accept that?  Is it a natural result of the way you react to certain pressures in your life?  What about illness, can you look kindly upon yourself when you are ill?  Or do you expect yourself to be in top health, on the top of your game and in great cheer constantly?

I can tell when someone else is putting on a front, when they act one way but really feel another way.  Yes, we can all put on a good front sometimes, just to get through a part of our life that is really challenging.  But it's really best when we face how we really feel and act accordingly.

Compassion is not just something you feel for others.  Act with compassion towards yourself.  If you're having a difficult day, give yourself a break.  Be understanding.  Lighten up and try to find something that makes you feel grateful.  This will help you transition to a more contented mood.

Namaste.

Day 178 January 29, 2011

Part of the learning process of yoga asana is learning to become humble.  You do your best every day.  That is sufficient.  Perfection is not necessary.

Sounds like good advice for the rest of what makes up life too, doesn't it?

Hold on though, sometimes it's a bumpy ride.

Day 177 January 28, 2011

photo of me by Jim, Liscannor Ireland

Laugh 

Day 176 January 27, 2011

colourful blueberries

Today is filled with sleet and wet snow.  There is no visible horizon line; you cannot distinguish the sky from the ground.  The ground and air are an opaque gray white, like fine rice paper.  As I shoveled the wet snow on my front steps this morning I saw a bluish cast to the deep pile of snow that accumulated on the shovel.  The shrubs and trees have their own unique variations on the colour dark green.  The weeping willow’s branches are burnt umber yellow against the reddish birch twigs nearby. 

There are very few cars on the road that borders the front of this property.  For this I am grateful.  I like the feeling of quiet that brings.  Of course, I love my car and what it enables me to do, to travel easily in this countryside setting.  Just every once in a while though, it’s refreshing to not see the cars, not get in the car, not go anywhere, just be contented with where you already are.

Contented.  That sounds good, doesn’t it?  Let’s aim for that today.

Day 175 January 26, 2011

colourful fig

The snow sparkled like diamonds this afternoon.  It made my walk cheerful.

Last night I helped myself fall asleep by designing art work.  Once I let my creative brain have a free reign in this way, it helps me relax and then I drift off peacefully.  Who would have thought that art would make anyone fall asleep peacefully?   The relaxation response.

My sketchbook proved to be an interesting read today too.  I found fault with some of my sketches.  I am my own worst critic.  In this one area of my life my self criticism is a positive influence.  I can destroy the really poor efforts and celebrate what appears to be successful.  Oh yes, bravery is required.  To show your artwork that is.  Thick skin helps too, so that you can continue to work even after you hear your own, or others' criticisms.

Yeah for bravery and thick skin.  Yeah for art :)

Day 174 January 25, 2011

Ready.  Are we ever ready?  There are the common sayings, "I'm ready for anything", or "I'm as ready as I'll ever be".  But are we really ready?

Perhaps we have those common sayings because we really are such creatures of habit it is a joke to think that we are capable of change.  Yet, scientists now realize that we are more capable of change than they thought, especially when it comes to our brains.  In the great book of essays, compiled in The Brain that Changes Itself, by Dr. Norman Doidge we learn that the brain is not hard wired. It is certainly capable of change.

The practice of yoga demands that you move in ways that are challenging and sometimes this new movement is so challenging a student will try just one class and never return; they are unwilling to change their known sense of themselves at that point, in this new way.  Perhaps this is a more common occurrence in the Iyengar method?  I'm not sure.  Even if you stick with it your sense of 'normal' is challenged in every class.  Once you begin seated poses where you bend forward and quietly limit your vision to your own body and perhaps the floor you sit upon, you are challenged once again, to look within yourself and what do you see?  Usually your own problems.

At this point another flock of students leaves the class never to return, for once confronted with their own problems which they currently cannot face, they prefer to walk away than attempt to face them.

You cannot force someone to be ready for things.  They must come to things in their own time.  And Iyengar yoga is not for everyone.  It's just that when it does work for you and you see what a profound change it has had in your own life, you tend to become a bit of a missionary.  You are excited to share your experience in the hopes that others will also gain the joy you have gained from its challenging methodologies.

But wait a minute.  We all have our own path.  Perhaps just sharing that, the knowledge that some of us have found our path is what the joy is all about?  We know what to do with our time on the planet.  Yes, that is part of it.  I remember my twenties.  I was confused a lot, depressed at times too.  Unsure of myself.  Now I'm not.  I'm actually contented.  Do you believe it?

I hope that you find some contentment today.

Day 173 January 24, 2011

Yoga is becoming really popular.  There are more people in North America doing yoga than there are in India, the birth place of yoga.  There are many, many different styles or methods of yoga.  I have my own preference, B.K.S. Iyengar's approach.  He will be the first person to agree that yoga is yoga.  It all has the same intent, even though the approaches vary.

My brother in law Mike just sent me an article from the New York Times about rebel yoga and more specifically, information on a NYC yoga studio called Strala Yoga run by Tara Stiles, an ex model.  Of course her approach is down to earth and she isn't interested in what she calls the religious side of yoga.  She just wants the health benefits.  She is a popular teacher, but some yoga devotees don't agree with her style, what they call her "selling out", using yoga as just another form of exercise and as a way to make money.

So you see, a few of humanity's basic issues are revealed here; we need to make an income and we need to take care of our bodies, or honour them.  Ms. Stiles also receives some flak for her clothing choices at times.  What I see though is how she reaches people who otherwise would never dream of going to a yoga studio.  She uses social media, you tube, etc. to reach people.  I applaud her for doing that.

I can also understand how she just wants the health benefits from yoga and the rest of it doesn't interest her.  That really resonated with me for I was just the same way when I started.  I stuck with yoga when I was incredibly stressed out and when I'd forgotten how to relax and have fun.  The immediate feedback and the relaxation response I gained from attending yoga classes was what kept me coming.  I didn't have time to read about yoga, or ponder its philosophical or spiritual aspects, I only had time to do it.  My job kept me much too busy for anything else.  And so I did the asanas and they hooked me.

Whatever way you get involved in yoga isn't important.  A yoga teacher and close friend of mine, James Traverse, tried to explain it to me once by saying, "I don't do yoga, yoga does me."  The physical work of yoga is very important to many North Americans for we work way too hard at our jobs which leaves us no time to take care of ourselves.  We eat too much and we eat the wrong foods.  We sleep too little.  We self medicate ourselves with coffee in the morning and alcohol at night.  That is why the physical aspects of the yoga asanas are so direct in their impact.

Practicing on the mat gets you to pay attention to the here and now.  There are times when I've felt like I was run over by a truck after the midway point of a yoga intensive (a weekend of 10 hours of yoga).  I was so sore from trying my best on the mat.  The senior teachers really know how to make you work deeply and your body will be sore, but you will want to go back for more.   It's true sometimes that the people who could benefit the most from the self reflection that comes from steady practice are the ones who often drop out of the classes first.  They just aren't ready.

Enough though, that is a discussion for another day.

Day 172 January 23, 2011

Ten more things that will help you today:

1. Nine or ten glasses of water or other liquids
2. Talking to someone you really like
3. Writing to someone you really like
4. Laughing at your reflection in the mirror
5. Patting a dog or cat, or looking into the eyes of a non-human animal
6. Stretching
7. Listening to the quiet
8. Preparing and eating good food
9. Sleeping as much as you need to so that you wake up refreshed
10. Oh, I almost forgot, laughing out loud

Day 171 January 22, 2011

Ten things that will help you today.

1. Laugh out loud.
2. Laugh out loud.
3. Laugh out loud.
4. Laugh out loud.
5. Laugh out loud.
6. Laugh out loud.
7. Laugh out loud.
8. Laugh out loud.
9. Laugh out loud.
10.  Oh, I almost forgot, laugh out loud.