Reason #4 and Why You Might Think I’m a Slacker
Reason #4 and Why You Might Think I’m a Slacker
Last week I wrote about the top 3 reasons why I practice yoga. Today I want to tell you about reason #4.
Yoga connects me to others and to the divine. It also keeps me humble and curious.
Last week I had to cut an important trip to Florida short due to a flare up of an ongoing health challenge. It was a difficult decision I came to only after doing my practice. It was difficult because I was at a conference as a guest speaker where I would be sharing from the stage my recently released book chapter. I had long wanted to be a published writer, and it had finally happened!
But my body wouldn’t have it. It was in revolt. I woke up feeling miserable.
After doing my practices, I voted in favor of self-care. I would “quit” the conference before it even started and fly home early. Disappointment and sadness washed over me.
Yet as soon as I was resolute in my decision, something else happened. Everything starte
d shifting for the better. I got this great visual affirmation in the Ft. Myers airport. A stranger was wearing this peaceful heart shirt. When I asked her if I could take her picture her face lit up, uplifting me. When I selected my seat on the plane (I was on Southwest), I sat next to the two most uplifting people on the plane who knew about Mercury retrograde, Paleo, neutraceuticals, yoga and breathing for stress management! I knew my angels had guided me to that one in 200 seats!
Without my practice, I would’ve never made the decision to “quit” the conference and come home early. I would’ve forced myself to push through. If I would’ve stayed, I would not have shown up in full power, in service.
I would have never gained the insight that sometimes, it’s better to listen to my body than push through (ring any bells?). I would have never gained the great sense of relief– and health benefit that came— purely as a result of taking a stand for my health. And I certainly would have never noticed the woman in the peaceful heart shirt –or my two seat-mates—as an affirmation from the divine.
I am so grateful for my practice!
Let me know here the top reasons you do yoga. I can’t wait to hear from you!
Love and brilliance,
Laurel
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else, is the greatest accomplishment.––Ralph Waldo Emerson
2 Responses to “Reason #4 and Why You Might Think I’m a Slacker”
This was a very inspirational story!
The top reasons why I do yoga are for stress relief and relaxation. During my sophomore year of college I had to undergo surgery. This was a hard and trying time in my life. I had to move out of the dorms and have my parent’s help me commute to and from school for the second half of the year. I fell greatly behind in my class work and I was worried about graduating on time. After I could start moving around again my doctor suggested I do meditation and yoga to help me with not only stress but also getting in tune with my body again. Ever since then I have loved doing yoga!
Top 4 Reasons I Practice Yoga
1. YOGA HELPS KEEP STILLNESS INSIDE OF ME
If I’m not careful, I can become a real worry wart-full of anxiety. My mind will race with worry over the safety of family members who are traveling. I also worry about my aging mother. Were it not for a daily pactice of yoga, my mind could find all kinds of unsettling thoughts.
Getting on my yoga mat pulls me back into the present moment. It replaces the anxiety with gratitude. I am grateful that at this moment in time, my family members are enjoying their travels. At this moment in time, my mom remembers my name and has a good caregiver. There is a tremendous peacefulness that comes from living in the moment.
Perhaps it is nieve thinking on my part, but I like to believe the peaceful spirit that results from a daily yoga practice has a trickle effect out in the world. Maybe, just maybe, yoga is a key component to world peace. As Doug Keller would say, “As it is in your heart, so it is in the world”.
2. YOGA HELPS ME BE OF GREATER SERVICE TO OTHERS
I have been a bodyworker for nineteen years. I cannot even begin to express what a game changer it ws when I started practicing yoga. A Ron Brown quote says it best. “Information only becomes knowledge when it is coupled with experience”.
I am grateful for the “book” and “hands-on” information, but when I started to actually feel all of those muscles and tendons in my own body, and feel how that work to align etc., etc., I became a much better practitioner. That real knowledge. PRICELESS!
3. YOGA REMINDS ME THAT CONTRARY TO WHAT I THINK, “IT’S ALL GOOD”
When I first started practicing yoga I became angry. I was angry about the injuries, and angry that I had a techer whose behavior was much less than yogic-like. I got on my mat and stewed with this anger for five years before I realized the anger wasn’t about the injuries or the teacher. It was about my ego.
-Couldn’t blame it on the yoga. I had pushed myself to the point of injury. -Couldn’t blame it on the teacher. I had chosen to take her class. Though my ego still makes an appearance every now and then, rather than get on my high horse and refer to Mysore Style Ashtanga as “ego and injury”yoga , I just refer to it as an optional reality and wish blessings upon the people who choose that practice. I learned some very good things from that practice.
And, rather than allow any teacher to ruffle my feathers with hate filled behavior, I hope I will always find the courage to speak my peace and the wisdom to let go and move on. If being on the receiving end of hatred made me struggle enough to learn the beginnings of unconditinal love, then maybe that teacher was the best of teachers.
Life gives us the situations we need to learn the lessons we need to learn. There is a verse in the Upanishads that sums it up beautifully. “Even the imperfect springs from the perfect, but only the perfect remains”. It’s all good.
4. YOGA RESULTS IN CAT KISSES
My sweet cat, Cupcake, loves yoga practice. She will sleep in a rocking chair in the yoga room until I lie down for savasana. That’s her cue to jump down on the floor and rub her head all over my feet, my hands, and my head. She then plops down besides me and flops over on her back as if to take her own joyful meditative rest. -Gotta love cats.