Once you start living in the flow, you will inevitably change. Not into someone new … into your most authentic self.
I have spent most of my life figuring out who I am. As a gay man, that meant acknowledging a part of myself that I’d long ignored or assumed to be dormant, then deciding to live into that truth.
As an aspiring yogi and spiritual being, it has meant doing my best to find — and live in — the “flow.” What that means (to me, at least) is shutting off the voices that tell me something is wrong … leaving the “should” at the door… and embracing the fact that my own deepest knowing comes from the Prana — the Universe / God / Higher Power / Higher Intelligence — and deserves my full attention.
Any less would mean living an inauthentic life, and — even though leaving the familiar behind can be scary — I have faith that what lies ahead is worth it!
Monday : Set Intention
Most of us are change-averse. We get into a certain way of doing things and, even if we’re not happy with how it’s going, we just stay in that well-worn path because it’s easier than forming a new one. It’s scary! How many of us have learned / heard / embraced that “the devil you know beats the devil you don’t”? By starting off the week reflecting on where we’d like to see change, we can start to explore what that change looks and feels like in our bodies and spirits. How does it affect the way you approach your daily activities with this seed of change planted?
Tuesday : Slow Flow
From this point forward, you can rely on our Tuesday sequences to be slow(er) but not necessarily EASY. Today kicks us off with seated spinal twists, progressing to revolved chair and lunges. Nothing is a better yogic metaphor for “change” than twisting. You’re literally wringing out your body, helping to boost your digestion and release energy that might be stagnating. This sequence is built in three “chunks,” do you’re invited to do only the seated part, progress to the chair (Utkatasana) sequence or into the complete high lunge series.
Wednesday : Meditation
My very first experience of asana practice changed my life forever. It was a DVD called “Yoga for Dummies,” in which the teacher (Sara Ivanhoe) led yoga newbies through two different beginner yoga sequences. At the end of the 30-minute “fat burning” class, she said something I’ll never forget: “Self acceptance, in my opinion, is the highest practice of yoga.” It has stuck with me and provided the foundation for my practice as I journey beyond asana practice into exploring what it means to live a life “in the flow.”
Thursday : Mindful Hack
The Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh taught that if we are to really look at something — really see it — we must consider all that it was. All the hands through which it passed. That floorboard was installed, hewn, crafted, harvested, and grown. The food on your plate was grown, harvested, shipped, prepared. Nothing we see is exactly as it started. Maybe that’s because all of Creation started with something more. Or, I supposed, something “less.” Boiled down to our essences and traced back to our beginnings, don’t we all share a common root? A common spark?
Friday : Athletic Flow
This more athletic flow builds on Tuesday’s twists and adds an arm balance to the equation. In most of my in-person classes, I try to include one thing that feels “impossible” for many in the room. The reason is that I am a firm believer that the mat is a mirror; we have the opportunity to learn ourselves during asana practice. How do you handle hard things? How do you talk to yourself when something feels out of reach? Do you try? Do you beat yourself up? Do you muscle your way through even if you feel you aren’t quite ready? My hope is that we can all breathe, recognize the challenge and move with respect for ourselves and our limits, while still encouraging growth and progress.
Saturday : Meditation
This is some heady stuff. I admit it. But it occurs to me that all this striving to change and evolve is really all about boiling down to who we always were. To the essence of our deepest, truest selves. That version of ourselves that might not even have a clear form. That “self” that is eternal. I can’t pretend to understand how it works, but I do believe that there is an eternal part of us. I don’t know if that eternal part returns to this plane as a new reincarnated being or if it rejoins the creative spirit / God in some kind of “heaven.” Frankly, it doesn’t matter to me what is “really” happening. But I do believe that the journey of this life is to cultivate and return to that eternal spirit NOW in THIS lifetime or incarnation. Maybe all of this evolving and striving is really about becoming who we always were.
Sunday : Reflection
I am a big fan of President Barack Obama, but even if you happen to disagree with some of his specific policies or ideas, you can’t deny that he was (and is) a great orator: able to sum up expansive, lofty ideas into relatable, understandable nuggets of wisdom and insight. This quote is the perfect essence of this week we’ve spent focusing on the Power of Change. We are the change we seek. And if we start with ourselves and our own Power to Change, the world around us (and our experience of the world around us) will also change. It has to.
Nothing that appears in this blog or on this website is intended to treat or diagnose any disorder, physical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before beginning any exercise program.
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