This Yama teaches us how to walk with and experience the
Divine within. It shows us how to trust that you are enough. It helps us to
find the middle way. Like goldilocks...not to hot and not too cold, not too soft
and not too hard. All of the Yamas and
Niyamas are a path designed to eliminate personal suffering.
To help you contemplate this, here are some thought
provoking questions to ask:
Do you create personal time and
space to dream and manifest your own intentions? Time for you own personal
spiritual growth?
Do you have a hard time
prioritizing self with all your roles and responsibilities? Do you give so much to others that you find
there is little time and energy left for self?
Do you sometimes say yes when you
really want to say no? Do you find
yourself overworking or overeating versus doing what you really want to
do? Do you even KNOW what you really
want to do?
Or do you sometimes over indulge
in self-health and self-care trying to “fix” parts of eindulgence when you are
working on changing habits.
Can you develop compassion for
yourself in the process? Can you delete the need to beat yourself up?
Can you have faith that your self-care will yield positive
energy that will fuel yourself and others?
I recently did a two hour
workshop for fellow yoga teachers titled, “Healing the Healer” emphasizing the
experience of Bramacharya. I thought I would share my introductory notes with
you to see if this resonates with you.
The Experience:
- Experience the Divine within; Trust that you are enough. “Yoga is a way of moving into stillness in order to experience the truth of who you are… It’s a matter of listening inwardly for guidance all the time, and then daring enough and trusting enough to do as you are prompted to do...” Eric Schiffman
- Experience the practice of accepting, forgiving and loving all parts of us including our aches, pains, ANTs & SLBs Ask not what’s wrong with me, but what is right with me? What is my loving body trying to tell me?
- Cherish yourself as sacred. Use the beginners mind to open yourself up to the wonder that you are. Seeing everything as sacred “roots us and balances us”
The Messages:
- Movement to music is powerfully healing
- Emotions are merely energy in motion, it is safe to feel them and let them go.
- Trust in your body’s innate ability to heal from within and become a witness to your own personal transformation
I
mentioned in the last post how several years ago when I was studying
integrative nutrition to become a certified health coach, my coach asked me
what I did for fun. The only thing I did
for myself was get up at 5:30am to practice Bikram Yoga in a 110 degree
room. It made me cry. What started out
as a healthy discipline, suddenly felt automatic and abusive. I realized that this yoga no longer served me
and that I needed something more, something that would stoke my passion.
My
first love was dance. By the time I was 10, I had been on toe for 3 years and
danced every dance in the nutcracker suite.
At 12, I was asked to audition for the Washington School of Ballet. When
my parents said no, I quit dancing and even sold my hand-autographed photos
from the beatles. I literally deprived myself of music for over 40 years!
I
went on to live the life my parents thought I “should lead” I was the good
girl. I rejoined my friends who had quit dance long before I did. I became a
cheerleader, was the social butterfly, got married and had children. Every time I shared a career goal, I was told
why it was not a good idea. When I told my father I was going to be a writer,
he said I was too undisciplined. When I told him I wanted to become a therapist
he laughed and said I was too emotional, the same response when I announced I
was going to be a nurse.
Even
in school, my HS Math teacher said to me, “Lisa, I know that you get this and
find this all too easy, but you are keeping the boys from learning, so if you
don’t stop talking, I’m going to have to move you to the front of the
room.” Could she not have moved me to a
more challenging math class instead? That was the last math class I ever took.
Many
of us have felt disempowered by our culture and our well-meaning parents and
teachers. Not following our passions can
be disempowering and energetically draining.
Not recognizing your inner light, your inner passions, can make life
feel dull and automatic.
So
who would like more joy? More peace? More Energy? Who would like to feel
empowered?
Today
we will explore ways to find balance and self-nourishment through the wisdom of
the Yama, Bramacharya: to live and walk with the divine. Finding
contentment in having and being enough. I often over-function and struggle with
the notion that I don’t have enough, enough food for everyone, have not
accomplished enough at the end of the day, or basically not being enough.
How
do we experience the divine with in us?
We
practice accepting, loving and forgiving all parts of us. We look at our aches
and pains, our ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) and SLBs (self limiting
beliefs), and we learn to reframe them.
Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with me?” Ask, “What’s my loving body trying
to tell me?” As a health coach, I share
the first step in my seven steps to optimal health, which is to take an honest
personal assessment. We practice with a beginners mind.
So close your eyes, take some deep breaths and spend a
few minutes in silence thinking of some part of you that you would like to
accept, forgive, or let go of. Whether it’s procrastination, a bad habit, an
addiction, a feeling of anxiety, or the belief that you are just “not good
enough.” What no longer serves you? What
keeps you on the hamster wheel or from giving yourself the gift of time and
space?
The next hour and 15 minutes, I’m going to share what I’ve
got, my own struggles and vulnerability to
hopefully inspire you to do the same, to recognize that we are all one, all the
same with the same self-doubts, struggles and aspirations.
We will demonstrate that we
all also have the innate ability to heal from within. My gift to you is my book, which is a love
story. “It is written and given with love to those I love, in hopes all of us
will learn to have the biggest, most passionate and life-affirming love affair
of our lives with…ourselves (and the divine within each of us).
I hope to demonstrate that
the most important person in your life must first be you. When you are
operating on all cylinders, you feel whole, balanced and happy, more joyful and
at peace. My hope is this book will be your guidebook and together through love,
we can change the world; one healthy, happy individual at a time..”
I’d like to share with you
now part of my own sadhana, my practice to create more joy and peace, energy
and empowerment in my life. It’s my way
of using movement to music to connect to the Divine within me and above. Let’s begin the practice with a feeling of
sacredness.
We then combined yoga,
breathwork and meditation with joyful movement to music.
Here’s a taste of what fun we had!
Let me know if you would like to sign up for our next Carpe
Diem Dance workshop and re-discover the Divine within you!
Tomorrow morning 7:30am I will be teaching yoga for the morning community class @ Beloved Yoga Studio in Reston, VA
ABOUT LISA JACKSON, RN, CHC, RYT
Lisa is an author, inspirational speaker, and coach with a mission to inspire and empower others to feel their best at any age. Her book, Savvy Secrets: Eat, Think & Thrive outlines seven steps that are fun and transforming. Lisa is part of the New Self Health Movement, the International Health Coach Association and the Wellness Inspired Network. When she is not coaching, speaking or writing, you can find her practicing yoga and joyfully sharing Carpe Diem Dance at every opportunity.
Lisa is an author, inspirational speaker, and coach with a mission to inspire and empower others to feel their best at any age. Her book, Savvy Secrets: Eat, Think & Thrive outlines seven steps that are fun and transforming. Lisa is part of the New Self Health Movement, the International Health Coach Association and the Wellness Inspired Network. When she is not coaching, speaking or writing, you can find her practicing yoga and joyfully sharing Carpe Diem Dance at every opportunity.
