“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

― Corrie ten Boom

Last week I had a very interesting week. My hair caught on fire while lighting candles for my gentle yoga class (let’s just say it’s difficult to find your Zen when your hair is on fire), it was my first day at a new studio and I hit every stop light, couldn’t find parking and then a huge rain storm drenched me so I came into the studio late and looking haggard, and the most challenging part of the week was not the three dis-interested kids who were running around wildly during my kids yoga class, but the three-year old yogini who sighed and rolled her eyes, and whined that we had “already done snake pose three times already.” I was slipping, and she totally caught me. It was like one of those Southwest Airline commercials, “Wanna Get Away?”

How do you deal with Life’s challenges?

Imagine yourself as a cartoon character…which character would you be? Are you the Tasmanian devil, tearing sh!t up and living life in a whirlwind tornado whizzing through all of your tasks never stopping, never pausing to breathe? Or are you Donald duck or Oscar the grouch always worrying or having some gripe?  Are you Wile E. Coyote, always scheming the perfect plan or having an exact expectation in mind? This might be a stretch, but at some times, don’t you feel like you have one of the cartoon characters inside you (or maybe several)?

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) we have little control over life. It’s a challenge to live life because situations are unpredictable, and we are taught to have goals, strive for excellence, multitask, and be successful. But what does that mean? Yes, you should have dreams and goals and prepare to make your dreams come true; however, you should also try to let go of the attachment to the expectation or outcome. When we are so attached to the end result, this causes us to feel negative weights of disappointment, frustration, anger, resentment, and guilt. It’s difficult to let go of expectations. We are human, and we have egos. Our egos can get in the way, and it’s hard to see past out egos and simply be present to whatever is going on in our life, without attachment or judgment.

During my yoga classes, I teach the concept of letting go of your expectations: let go of your ideal perfect pose, let go of worrying about what happened yesterday, let go of the expectations for tomorrow, and simply come to your breath and be present and mindful on your mat for that 75 minute class. It sounds fairly simple, but letting go of an expectation or attachment to the outcome and being present is a challenge in itself. Just like in a difficult pose, we can complain about how much our quads sting or how our arms are so exhausted they feel like they will fall off; or we can simply become the observer of our thoughts, emotions and sensations and come back to our breath and be in the present moment. The pose only lasts for a few breaths, so can you become the observer and watch your thoughts and sensations, without judgment or criticism?

By being mindful in the present moment, this helps us to create a little bit of space between our true self and our whirlwind of thoughts, feelings and emotions of our mind. Life’s not a perfect yoga class or a model pose, but it’s not always thunderstorms and burned hair either. Life is a cycle of challenging and easy things, happy and sad moments, excitement and boredom. Life can get a little challenging. It’s life, but at least it’s exciting! So, when things get a little hectic, remember what you learned in yoga class, and just to come back to your breath, let go of expectations and just be, even if it’s only for a moment.

Sometimes it’s not until I’m melting into the floor in Savasana at the end of a challenging yoga session that I realize just how hard I’ve been working. It’s not in my nature to give less than 100 percent to any given task—and my yoga practice is no exception. But there are certainly times when slowing down, backing off, and doing less is the only way I’ve been able to understand both the technical aspects of poses, but also the philosophical parts of the practice.

Here are five good reasons to slow down, back off, and do less in your yoga practice.

1. There’s no prize for mastering challenging poses, just the potential for an inflated ego and yet another, more challenging pose to conquer. Yoga isn’t about pushing your body to its limits. Being able to twist yourself into advanced postures doesn’t mean you’ve gained a better understanding of what yoga’s all about, and it doesn’t mean you’re any closer to enlightenment than anyone else. So why rush? Take your time.

2. Understand the pose. The idea that NOT working as hard as possible could be a good thing was a totally foreign concept to me when it was first introduced to me in a yoga class. In fact, it took me a couple of years of yoga practice to actually see the benefit in going to my edge, and backing off a little. But I know now that it’s at that point where I can pay attention, breathe deeper, make changes and shifts in my form, and really learn the technique of the pose.

3. Go deeper. It’s true that backing off of a pose does let your muscles relax, which can often help you to stretch further. But going deeper doesn’t always mean stretching further. Backing off your edge in a pose also gives you a clearer picture into what is going on in the parts of your body that might not be as obviously impacted by the pose. It’s that awareness that will take you deeper in the pose and in the practice.

4. Protect yourself from injuries. Yoga injuries happen. Sometimes it even takes an injury to help us to realize that just because you can push yourself to get into a pose it doesn’t mean that you should. It might not be possible to prevent all injuries, but you’ll be a lot less likely to hurt yourself if you go slow, move with awareness, and listen to your intuition about what’s right for you.

5. Learn to love yourself. Giving yourself permission to do a little less on the mat often translates into an opportunity to do a little less in life. For me, that means I can be a little less hard on myself in life. Your yoga teacher doesn’t expect you to have the energy or skill to perform perfect poses all of the time (or even most of the time) so why should I expect myself to do everything well when I leave the studio? I’m going to fall short. Yoga teaches me that it’s OK, and I can (and should) love myself anyway.

Article written by Yoga Journal 

It’s okay that you feel afraid, wild one, but it is not serving you. Pause for a moment to release it now, and then return to this meditation any time you feel the shadows begin to creep back in. Take a long, deep breath into your body and then release it. Wonderful, do that again… breathe in even more slowly and more deeply, holding it in for a moment and the release that breath from every corner of your being, and hold that emptiness for a moment as well. Good. Now, read along as you continue to breathe these same deep, cleansing breaths.

Let me breathe in the transformative love that flows with ease through the universe, and breathe out the fear that aches in my chest. Let me breathe in the healing light of the thousand angels who are holding me in this moment… and breathe out the dark whispers that echo in my mind. Let me breathe in the warmth of my spirit community and breathe out the lie of isolation. Let me breathe in the simplicity I long for, and breathe out the hurt and complexities of yesterday. Let me breathe in my wild and passionate nature, and breathe out every obstacle to openness. Let me breathe in the truth that I AM, I AM… and breathe out resistance to love. Let me breathe in divine abundance and then, breathe out the need to deny the divine within. Let me breathe in the eternal flow of love and abundance… and then breathe out to release all that no longer serves me.

_____
Releasing that which no longer serves you is a powerful way to move back into the flow of abundance, and to cultivate freedom in your life. Article by Christy Diane Farr.