following through with our intentions

I realize I didn't mention a couple important things in yesterday's post.

Re. the Releasing Practice and letting go of past habits, beliefs, etc:
One thing that helps me, as I mentioned, is once I recognize I'm doing something habitual, I stop and really feel into it. I feel the bodily sensations associated with the thoughts or actions. (And often a "negative" habit pattern is associated with intense feelings). And I take a deep breath.
I recognize them as energy, shakti, and I watch their vibration (spanda) and how they often transform when I pay attention. When I can see the feelings or thoughts as simply energy, then it helps me to soften around them. To recognize everything is vibrating energy/shakti helps me to let go of the story of it and just rest in the energy. This helps me relax around the contracted feelings of attachment that arise when I'm believing my story or stuck in a "negative" habit or thought pattern.

Re. following through on our New Year's resolutions:
What has worked for me this year is to schedule my new "positive" habits right into my daily calendar. I don't just remember my intentions, or even look at a written "to-do" list, I actually put down the new habits directly into my calendar exactly when I'm going to do them. Of course, this works better for an actual task than for a belief or thought-pattern. So with new tasks: for me one of them is practicing my cello, I write down exactly what time each day I'm going to practice and for how long. Then it's best if most other events of my day are also scheduled with realistic time frames (this is key) so I'm more likely to follow through on my plans.

At first, I found it useful to put down absolutely everything I intend to do each day and for how long. For example: I put down what time I meditate and do my asana, what time I'll be eating, when I'll call to make a doctor appt. or a date with a friend, what hours I'll be working, doing errands, what time I take a walk, cook dinner, laundry, etc. (In the working and errands time slot, I make a list of tasks I intend to accomplish and when I don't accomplish them, I put them into the next day's schedule).

It seems very rigid at first, but for me, it's actually been very freeing. It's given me a sense of peace to know it's all written down and I don't have to remember everything. I stick to it as best I can and move things when necessary. After a while, a couple months or so, I notice that I am following through with certain new tasks; they become a new positive habit that I want to do and I automatically budget them into my day. So now, I find I schedule only the non-regular stuff and the daily rituals are already accounted for.

Best of luck and please let me know how it goes and whether you find this helpful!
Namste,
Robyn

Happy New Year- expanded version of 1/1/12 email newsletter

Happy New Year! I hope this Holiday time has been filled with great love and restoration for you.

This darkest season and time of transition into a new calendar year is a traditional time to reflect on the past and clarify our visions for the future. I like to do what I call a Releasing Practice. I look back over the last year to acknowledge what I've learned and recognize where I can continue to grow. Then I intentionally release any unhealthy habits or beliefs. A great way to empower this is to write on a piece of paper, in present tense, all that you want to surrender from the past. For example: I surrender my worrying about the future, I release my habit of blaming others for my experience, I let go of the belief that I'm not enough. Then you burn it ritually in a fire with the word Svaha! which means hail! or so be it! The ritual fire has been used in India for thousands of years. It symbolizes the burning of impurities and the offering of our prayers to Spirit through the rising smoke. This year, I am keeping it simple and only writing two things down which I want to focus on the most.

But how do we actually release our unhealthy habits and beliefs which are so deeply ingrained? Oh, this is a process. I believe we must return to them again and again with new consciousness and discipline ourselves to do something different, anything besides the old habit. It really helps to ask our loved ones to support us in making a change; they can remind us kindly when we're behaving in a habitual way, but it's up to us to stop the habit. Having support is super helpful in making change.

The complimentary practice, I call Intention Practice, is to write down what you want to manifest or focus on in the next year. A nice thing to do with this piece of paper is to make it beautiful using colors or artistic writing, etc. and put it on your altar or somewhere visible as a daily re- minder of your intention (sankalpa in Sanskrit). This year, I'm writing just one thing for each of these categories: creativity, spiritual life, social life, work, play, home, and health. Other areas might be family, finances, relationship, body, community, studies. Do you know most New Year's resolutions only last about 2 weeks? They say it takes 8 weeks of a new practice to create a habit. So don't let your resolutions slip away. Keep coming back and ask for support!

Ultimately, it is best to start with acceptance if we want to grow or change. Trying to force out the "bad" habits or beliefs is like fueling an inner battle. So we welcome all of who we are first, fully feeling into our sadness or pain or discomfort. Then with compassion, we embrace our whole self before choosing what to release. And every time we catch ourselves in the old habit, we compassionately acknowledge it and then choose to let it go.

I wish you the best in your 2012 journey of yoga off the mat!

Happy Solstice!

Happy Solstice!

This morning, I enjoyed Winter's call to sleep in late and linger in bed for longer than usual. And I reveled in the stillness of the morning to sit in meditation longer than usual.

Winter beckons us to slow down and nurture ourselves like the womb nourishes a fetus. It is a call to go inside, to inquire into our true nature, to get quiet and listen to the wisdom of our beings and honor what we discover. Although we are returning to longer days, this is still the darkest season. It is in nature's flow to honor this precious time by reducing busyness, spending time with loved ones and practicing restorative activities like yoga and meditation that help us renew and rejuvenate before the Spring.

May you cherish this rich opportunity for inquiry and self-honoring. May your Winter Holidays be blessed with much love, deep presence and the radiance of the returning light.

Compassion and Kindness

- alternate version of 12/11 newsletter

I love this holiday time where we practice opening our hearts towards others by giving gifts to loved-ones and generously making offerings towards those in need. In Yoga, one of the highest practices of generosity is to generate compassion and kindness for all beings, but especially for those people who trigger you the most.

I've recently been faced with the opportunity to practice this quite a bit! While it has been very unpleasant to feel somebody's frustration pointed towards me, I've been able to appreciate the unique growth that has evolved from it. I've been watching my impulses to react defensively against the perceived threat; my ego wanting to defend it's position or wanting to counter-attack. This kind of response is so natural, so human. And yet as a conscious being, I've been doing my best to choose compassion and kindness instead. (Using e-mail has greatly facilitated this process as it's given me the space to think before I respond).

As I've shared in classes this week, what helps me to respond with kindness is first generating compassion (karuna) for this person. I try to see the ways we are alike and I try to feel how I imagine this person is feeling. I remember that it is because of their suffering that they are being unkind to me and that helps me to feel genuine compassion. Once I experience compassion, I can more easily respond with kindness.

I always feel better when I generate compassion and kindness than when I react out of my habitual or animalistic tendencies. And I know my words are much better received that way as well.

May you experience the true compassion that supports your kindness towards all beings

YOGA IN THE DARK?
We just got back from an overnight in a small town a couple hours up the coast from our house. Another beautiful ocean town. I taught 2 workshops and Patrick saw 4 bodywork clients. It was fun to be their first visiting yoga teacher. Many of the students had never done a yoga workshop so we started with the fundamentals of Anusara Yoga. I love teaching the basics and opening people's minds and hearts with the power of the alignment and Tantric philosophy. I talked a lot about Opening to Grace; opening our senses and being more receptive and sensitive to our inner energy and to the energy around us.

So it was auspicious that there was a blind student there with her hearing-impaired husband. I was inspired watching her navigate through my instructions using only her senses of hearing and feeling and the occasional whisper from her husband. She was definitely practicing being receptive! Luckily she is a regular yoga student so she knows the basic form of the poses. Since I'm so dedicated to clarity in my communication, I loved the challenge of having to articulate the details of what to do with the body. She would certainly show me when I was not clear by following exactly what I said, not what I meant or showed. She never got frustrated or upset and her teacher was always ready to dive in when needed.

Although I've read and watched films about people with visual impairments, I have never had an extremely visually-impaired student before, nor have I had an acquaintance or friend in my life who could not see. It has me pondering again what it must be like to live in the darkness, to rely so heavily on hearing and other senses to interpret what is happening, and on others to explain what they see. I wonder what it's like to have those senses heightened so much to make up for sight. I suppose it's a form of Opening to Grace, of really opening to What Is around you in the moment (especially in public spaces), and tuning in acutely in ways the rest of us can't even imagine.

This ability to tune in differently with the eyes closed is why I often ask my students to close their eyes during various times in the practice. I love the way it takes them into heightened receptivity; they feel their energy vibrating, their heart beating, the movement of their breath and the sensations in their bodies in ways they don't tend to notice with their eyes open.

May we all appreciate this great gift of sight and may we also remember to allow our other senses to teach us about the present moment and to help us Open to Grace.

Happy Samhain.  This is the Celtic festival of endings and new beginnings. It's the end of Harvest season and the beginning of going inwards for winter.  It is said that the veil between the worlds (this one and "other" worlds) is thin at this time of year, October 31 and November 1.  And therefore, it's a great time to put out prayers to the Spirit realm, especially for your hopes and dreams for new beginnings. It's also a great time to connect with the spirit of those who've passed from this lifetime as they're more likely to "hear" you.

It was fun for me to teach on this for the first time last night.  I could really feel it in the room.  We had a small group because of Halloween. When we started, there was tremendous activity out on the Arcata Plaza as all the little kiddies and their parents were Trick or Treating in costume around the plaza shops.  There was also a live band on the grass.  And yet in our classroom above the mayhem, we felt the absence of many missing students and the impending darkness and quiet after the festivities that ended shortly after we began.

I told the students about Samhain and asked them to consider anyone who's passed who they wanted to offer their practice to, or any prayers they wanted to send out for this new season.  I talked about how yoga makes us more sensitive; more aware of our selves and each other and the other energies in our environment.  So clairvoyance is a natural gift that some have, but I believe we can all develop it through our practice.  And especially at this window of the year, we may be able to see more clearly, to sense energy and to engage with it.  So we practiced opening our senses and tuning in and making prayers and offerings. 
The intention in the room was palpable.

Fall Equinox - Taking Responsibility

Happy Equinox! It's hard to believe our precious Summer is officially over. (Luckily around here, we have what we call Indian Summer, so it's the one time of year we can count on a lot of sunshine). In the Celtic tradition, Fall Equinox is a time of celebrating the harvest while also reflecting back on all that has been created and how to use those creations.  This is perfect for me as I've begun a lot of inner reflection lately, looking at what I want to release and how I want to refine.

I've started doing some personal coaching with somebody who has a system and a style I really resonate with. This is awesome because I'm excited about clearing out some old habits and theories and stepping up more fully and powerfully in my life. And I love having support for this!

So one of the things we're working on is clarifying my dreams in several areas of my life. This has been a great process of putting the magnifying glass on how things actually are and why they're not a 10 and later we'll work on how I can step up to design my life as I want it. I think I've always been a self-starter and that's partly why I was attracted to yoga and meditation; because I could do it myself and help myself and empower myself. It's also why I love teaching and private sessions; because I love helping people help themselves and get empowered. I love giving people the tools they need to make a change and especially to find inner freedom. 

The other thing we're looking at is personal integrity, like being honest with oneself and others. Luckily, I've trained a lot in this over the years. It's another aspect of self-empowerment and an important part of yoga (Satya = truth or truthfulness and part of the code of ethics in yoga).  My time at Heartwood was so awesome in this way. I think it was there that I learned to "own" my feelings and to "take responsibility" for my actions and feelings, not that I've mastered it, but awareness is the first step!  My later training in Non-Violent Communication was another great tool set that helped me to distinguish my observations from my feelings and needs and again to take personal responsibility and not to blame others or situations for my feelings.  I've also been tuning into the tendency to complain.

So blaming and complaining have been on my radar lately.  I am not proud when I hear them coming out of my own mouth as it shows me I'm avoiding taking responsibility;  I may blame others, the weather, my body, my habits, etc. for why something isn't going the way I like.   It's like an excuse I don't even see until later that I didn't "own" my part.   And it's a way to get out of being completely honest.  Luckily,  I'm already recognizing these habits and catching them earlier in the process and often before they come out of my mouth.

Since my awareness is heightened around this, I'm easily triggered when others blame or complain at me.  It's no fun being blamed or whined at.  And I notice how hard it is for me not to get defensive in that moment, or even to want to blame them for blaming me!  I've gotten tested a few times lately and I can't say I've passed with flying colors, but I can certainly say that I've done my best (with room for improvement) and learned a lot, and that I'm fairly proud of my ability to use good communication skills.  Emails help for sure as they give me space to think.  I can write it and then let it steep for a while, edit again and then steep before another possible edit before sending.  Even better is sleeping on it. I am very committed to NOT sending anything impulsive.

This communication stuff and really knowing what is true is part of my karma yoga, the yoga of action and of service. I serve myself and others so much more when I'm honest with my feelings and needs and when I can share with kindness. My great practice is to breathe, to honor my truth, to not take it personally, and to speak from my heart with kindness and compassion for myself and for others.

Onward into the Fall!