Tag: Yoga off the mat

Do you play small?

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I certainly do.

What is that!? Why is that? Doesn’t that seem counter-intuitive? And yet, we all seem to have this same disposition/fear/shared consciousness.

This is a cliché question, but, for real: What would you do if you knew you wouldn’t fail? Put differently: What would you do if you didn’t limit your potential? What would you do if you weren’t afraid of your light?

For me, sometimes what limits me is feeling like I can’t make a difference; feeling like whatever small thing I do, won’t affect others – it won’t ripple.

In this time of global fear/flux/change, we have witnessed what happens when individuals influence those around them to both emanate their light, and their dark. All of our energy has ripples and it will affect those around us. It may not be visible and it may not seem immediate, but it does make an impact.

What would happen if you chose to let go of your fear and live more brightly?

What would happen if you recognized others’ fear of showing their light through their negative reactions? Could you keep shining your light if you knew negative reactions were just that, fear? Not a personal judgement against you, but a personal limitation placed upon themselves.

What does that look like for you?

For me, it means stepping back and taking a breath before reacting. It means taking a moment to look at where they are coming from. It means recognizing their fear. It means sending them compassion. It means holding space for both their light, and for my boundaries. It means releasing their judgement. It means stepping into my own light anyway!

My offering to you is to look at where you are holding back. Look at where you allow fear to lead you. Just to be aware of it.

After you are aware of it, you can start to ask yourself if there is another way forward. Do you want to proceed the way you have – allowing fear to lead you? Or, do you want to start to allow your light to shine and lead you as you move forward?

Do this without judgement towards yourself, or towards others. And don’t judge yourself when you find yourself in judgement! Recognize it. Awareness is where this all starts and you can’t move forward if you keep judging yourself.

Notice where you see shifts, however small they may be. Notice the light grow within yourself and within those around you.

We can do this. We can impact positive change. Each and every one of us has the ability to recognize the light within us and within those around us. Each of us can acknowledge the fear bubble up, and each of us can choose to follow the light instead.

The light in me recognizes and honours the light that is also within you.

Namasté
~Alannah

The whirling hamster wheel

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Your alarm goes off, you hit snooze. Your alarm goes off, you hit snooze. Your alarm REALLY goes off. It’s time to drag yourself out of bed…and, you’re off!

Get out the door, get coffee, get to work, work, workout, eat, tv, bed. Repeat.

Does that, or something like that, remind you of someone? It’s definitely been me. And, if I’m being honest, it will likely be me again at various points in my life.

This past week, now that I’m only teaching two classes outside of my 9-5, I’ve had the opportunity to take some time in the evenings to step off the hamster wheel. I made the conscious decision to do what brings me joy, specifically, to not just watch tv.

It’s not that my evenings weren’t busy, but in that time, I consciously asked myself: will watching tv bring me joy right now? And, every single time, the answer was no, it will not. So, instead, I took my time to cook, I didn’t feel rushed to get to a yoga class, I read, I listened to music.

I consciously enjoyed my time.

Here’s the thing, we get so rushed because, yes, we try to fit everything into 24 hours, but also, because we don’t consciously decide how we want to spend our time and end up in habits that suck time.

My offering to you is to start recognizing your habits, and begin to question them.

Do they serve you? Do they bring you joy? Are they the best use of your time?

Here’s the thing,  if binge watching Game of Thrones brings you joy, then that’s ok! No judgement.

If you find yourself running out of time and rushing through life, or wanting to do something that you “don’t have time” to do, over and over, that’s when it matters to question. That’s when it matters to pause, before falling into your routine/habit, and ask.

In love,
~Alannah

When things change

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As humans, we’re really good when we’re in control, but what happens if something changes that’s out of your control, or what happens when you have to make a decision with your best knowledge in that moment without any time to really think about it?

yoga-keep-calm

There’s a yoga sutra that pulled itself into my consciousness this week:

Te prati prasava heyah suksmah.

“When you think you have it under control, you had better check again. These tendencies are often subtle, and the untrained mind has a way of avoiding the issues. Develop constant introspection, and pay attention.”

~Bhavani Silvia Maki (The Yogi’s Roadmap)

A few things happened that made this teaching feel relevant.

1. A trip that had previously been cancelled is now happening in three weeks and I committed to going, after deciding to not go.

2. Two yoga studios merged and my students are having to adjust.

3. Wednesday was my last night teaching regular classes at a studio I have taught at since it opened.

Wow.

The Trip. I can’t say I was excited for the initial trip, but I was committed and it was an amazing opportunity to experience a new country and work with a team to build houses, including one that I raised the money to fund. Then, there were a few natural events and the trip was cancelled with the plan of rescheduling. When the trip was rescheduled, I wasn’t all in. I needed to process it and decide if it was something I really wanted to do. I came to the decision to not go, but it still didn’t feel right. So I kept sitting on it. Finally, I rebooked. Done.

The Studios. January 1 marked the merging of two studios and January 9 is the change in schedules so this past week has been amazing with getting to teach new students in busy classes. Wednesday was a gloriously full class with many new-to-me faces. For many of them, they were new to the space and were unsettled by the change to the location and schedule. My work, as their teacher, was to acknowledge their discomfort and to help them live their yoga practice. My class included teachings around Te prati prasava heyah suksmah.

The Classes. I have had the privilege to witness the community grow and develop for the past two years. Through teaching four classes a week, I have watched my students become more focused, mobile, and dedicated to the teachings of yoga. The experience has added depth to my teaching and passion for sharing the lessons that yoga has to offer us. These students have really drawn me in and I will miss them dearly. I had held onto these classes because of my students. Changes to the schedule gave me the push that I needed to release these classes in order to pursue other opportunities.

Loss of control.

I thought I had made the decision to not go on the trip. My students had their yoga schedule figured out. My teaching schedule had remained mostly unchanged for two years and my work schedule was adjusted to fit.

How do you handle events outside of your control?

For me, I take a look inside, I ask myself, what do I need to learn from this? What is this telling me? There are no “right” answers to these questions, these answers are open to interpretation as they come from within you.

Some people sit in meditation, I’m still working on that, but I do “sit with” the decision that feels right. I listen to my gut/my first reaction, then I “test” that decision. I pay attention to my reactions to that decision. If that decision doesn’t “feel right”, the thoughts will continue to whirl around my mind. When it doesn’t feel “done” I know it’s not the right decision/next step yet.

When a decision is “final”, sometimes it can feel sudden, but it also feels complete. When I made the call to rebook my flight, it seemed urgent, rushed, but it also felt final, and “right”.

There was no decision for my students, they will have to continue to practice this magical thing called yoga and make the best choices for themselves as they find new teachers and a new routine. My hope is they can see this change as a positive and are able to further develop their practice through both new teachers/styles, and through their own internal practice of living through this change.

Change isn’t easy, but it is constant. The trick is to look at the change, to look at how it makes you feel, acknowledge that, look at the lessons this change can offer you, and keep moving forward with a positive outlook.

In love,
~Alannah

Are we JUST consumers?

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Have you watched the documentary ‘True Cost’ yet? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it – you can find it on Netflix. The director/creator of that film, Andrew Morgan, just did a podcast with Rich Roll which brought it back to my consciousness. In the podcast, Andrew, says something about how we’ve been labeled (turned into) consumers and we believe that we don’t have a choice – that we’re just bystanders.

This just isn’t the case! One person CAN make a change and an impact!

Five years ago, lululemon began the SeaWheeze – a beautiful half marathon followed by yoga and an outdoor concert. I had never run that far before, but FUN. was the band playing the concert that evening and I wanted to go see the concert, so I signed up to run. Btw, this was the year that FUN. won a Grammy – they were kind of a big deal. Anyway, I digress. The other piece of this event is that lululemon, being a clothing retailer, creates specialty product that is sold on the SeaWheeze weekend. Yahoo!

Fast forward five years. The SeaWheeze now sells out within minute, well in advance of the band being announced, and the SeaWheeze shop is INSANE! People were paying to have someone line up for them the day before the store opened; people were posting items online while they were in the store to find out if they could resell them; the shop is supposed to be open all weekend, but it sells out on day one now.

I picked up my race package first thing in the morning this year and I watched people run into the shop! I also, later, stood in the line for an hour; however, I picked up three things once I was in the store, then looked down, looked at the cash line, and realized it really didn’t need or want any of it.

Ok, so what can we learn from this?

We are constantly told that we are just consumers – we are expected to consume. We are expected to covet what’s new, better, trendy, but do we have to be that way? Do we have to give in? Will it really make us happier, healthier, more loving people?

In yoga, there are the Yamas and Niyamas that are basically the guidelines for how to live. There are five of each (kind of like the 10 Commandments). The fourth Yama is Aparigraha, translated to mean “non-attachment/non-possessiveness”.

I love this description of Aparigraha:

“This important yama teaches us to take only what we need, keep only what serves us in the moment, and to let go when the time is right.“

Part of removing ourselves from the label of “consumer” is to become more conscious about what we’re bringing into our space, why we’re bringing it in (what purpose it’s serving), and if it’s the choice we want to make.

Are we collecting stuff for the sake of having it? Because someone told us we should want it? Because we think it will make us happier?

I find this to be an extremely difficult practice and I definitely find myself wanting the newest iPhone, boots, scarf, brand-name jeans… We don’t perfect these moral and ethical codes; we continuously bring ourselves back to them. We constantly have to ask ourselves, do I need this? Will this make me happy? Will this make me a kinder person? Will this choice make me more loving?

Sometimes we really do “need” to purchase a new ____, and we all need to purchase food. So how do we make the best choices for ourselves, the environment and those creating the goods that we buy?

Being conscious about the consumer choices we’re making is still challenging, but with more of us making these conscious choices, they will become easier to make. Organic milk didn’t come to Walmart because Walmart wanted it!

What and how you buy MATTERS! If you believe in supporting local farmers, then buy foods that are in season and local. If you believe people shouldn’t be killed making your clothing, look into who is making your clothing and invest into products that last and that are made to a higher standard.

Right now, this costs higher; however, if more of us choose to support this, the costs will come down.

We don’t need all the clothes that are in our closets; we don’t need the newest release of something when our old product works just fine; we don’t need to over-purchase.

I am NOT just a consumer. I am a conscious human who wants to do better for the World around me. I want my choices to bring positive change into the World.

This is a practice and we’re all working on it together. Please share what helps you make more conscious consumer choices.

In love,
Alannah