Be the Peace for Others to Find Solace
In the past few weeks, I've worked with a few new students who have never done yoga before, and the common response they admitted after class was that they were intimidated about starting, as they were under the impression that you had to be flexible to do yoga.
Ha! If they could have only seen me when I started yoga. Bending over, my hands barely passed my knees as my hamstrings and glutes were ridiculously tight. My back was stiff as a board, and I was by far the tightest person in class.
I too was nervous coming into a class, embarrassed to be the stiffest one who couldn't bend easily. But once I was there, I was relieved that no one was looking at me; they were all focused on their own practice.
And after class, I felt like I had taken the best drug on the market- I felt so much freedom in my stiff body and a calm presence that I had never experienced before. I was so elated walking home and sold on this practice that has served me (and so many other stiff, tight, anxious folks) by finding RELIEF.
Relief in both my tight, achy body, but mostly relief of my anxious mind. Feeling stiff and uncomfortable in the body depletes energy, as the energy gets stuck in the tightness and can't flow freely. And having an anxious mind leads to reactivity and often poor decision-making. It's being in a constant, underlying fight-or-flight mode. When we're anxious, we're usually breathing shallowly, which only creates more anxiety.
Yesterday I taught a woman who told me after class that she's amazed at how calm she feels after every class. She said she felt the same way the week before, and she kept waiting for it to wear off, but it didn't. And when things would happen that normally bothered her, she just let them roll off her back and was astonished by the difference.
This is what makes this practice so unique. The long, slow breathing while stretching and releasing the tension held in the body and mind actually gives us more energy. It frees up the stuck energy - also known as prana or Qi.
One student in the teacher training said she didn't know how she would manage attending 3 classes a week (mandatory for the 200-hour teacher training) with a family and a full-time job. But once she got in the rhythm of it, she told me that the more yoga she does, the more time she has, because she has so much more energy!
As the state of the world around us seems so vulnerable, it's more important than ever to have practices that keep us strong and centered, so we can maintain our own peace and be ready to show up for others who need support.
Let's be peace spreaders, as the world is in chaos. Be the ones who feel grounded, strong, and safe to be around.
Hope to breathe with you soon.
From my heart to yours~
Namaste,
Maggie