Renew Your Day with Yoga-Guest Post

Hello, girls!! Please forgive me for my absence this week. It has been a doozy and there were moments when I thought I may drown in all the muck. If anybody needed RENEWING this week it was ME!

Please take time to read this uplifting Guest Post from my blog friend Angela from Om2Art. Not only is her artwork whimsical and inspiring but her love for YOGA is contagious...seriously. Angela's blog was one of my inspirations for this e-course of mine!! Her darling artwork is sure to inspire you as well:)

Yoga means many things to many people.  Most know of it as a form of exercise and relate it to spirituality, calm, and peace.  Yoga poses (aka asanas) are one small part of a very large science.  While understanding that most people teach what they know....here is what I know for sure based on my own personal experience and it is my hope that is may serve you.  

My yoga mat is my best friend.

She is always there for me and usually asks "How are your feeling today?"  Notice  she doesn't ask about yesterday or tomorrow...but today, right now.  She realizes that I am not my past nor am I my future, therefore granting me an opportunity  

to be renewed each and every day...

and every moment.  My friend the yoga mat is never bossy, never waiting impatiently for me to arrive, she just simply waits until I'm ready.   When I am she says, "sit and stay a while."  "I'm here whenever you need me, I know your secrets, and I'm someone you can confide in.  I will show you your habits if you let me and I'll teach you how to create an extraordinary life out of ordinary moments."  Seriously she is my bff for life!  Then she slips in messages like,  "for once you start to become aware of your habits that do or do not serve you, you invite an opportunity to choose a different path."  This is when transformation takes place...organically.

I think the editor of Yoga Journal recently got it right when she said "Yoga is an opportunity to foster awareness, to get to know yourself, and on a practical level, make conscious choices in your life."  I know what you're thinking....seriously?  How does that work?  How is putting myself in ridiculous shapes going to help me make conscious choices in my life? Well, I'll tell you.

Think about this.  Like a box of chocolates, in a typical yoga class you have an assortment of people.  Young, old, happy, grumpy, injured, stressed, etc.  I typically teach a class room full of 20-35 students.  In one class someone had been in a car accident and had major MAJOR back surgery, another just had his shoulder reattached, another had an old knee injury, another had just lost her mom, another was nursing pulled muscles and soreness, another was battling a serious illness.  I also had fellow yoga instructors in class, people who had practiced for more than 20 years, and a student who was just trying yoga for the very. first. time.  And yet, nobody knew but me.  Did you know that even the kind of day you have had, has an effect on how your body show up? The crazy thing is that I watch as they all try to squish themselves into the same shape comparing themselves to everyone else as if everyone else is doing it "right".

But here's where opportunity is found - in noticing.  Notice that you are comparing yourself to others, and then take it a step further and notice how it makes you feel?  This is your habit.  This is your natural reaction.  But does it serve you?  Or does it make you miserable?   Now take that practice off the mat.  Do you compare yourselves to other artists? mothers? wives? (insert your role here) and most importantly....does it serve you?  If it doesn't  - don't do it....it really is that simple.  All we need to do first is notice, then feel.  This is why it's called a "practice".  Because we practice over and over again noticing what our reactions are to the poses on the mat and then relate our reactions to our poses (or difficult situations) in life.

So go ahead, make a new friend.  Preferably a long, flat squishy kind of gal and let her be your confidante.  Let her teach you what your habits are and help you transform them.  It might be a love/hate relationship at first but with a few skilled instructors or just a willingness to notice your habits while doing your yoga dvd at home, you can mindfully become more of yourSELF and create an extraordinary life out of ordinary moments.

In peace, love, and light

Angie

Thank you sooo much, Angie for being a guest here on Words of Me Project!!

**A reminder, girls. If you haven't left a comment on this post...be sure do so today. I will be picking TWO winners Tuesday morning. 

Our final Week is coming up...I can't believe 6 weeks went by so fast. Since I was a bit off this past week I won't be posting Week 6 assignments until Monday night. 

Girls, I appreciate each of you. Your work is so uplifting to me!!