Finding Your Balance

How does your body find balance? Maybe it’s in the physical sense by balancing on one leg. Maybe it’s balancing all of your tasks for the day. Maybe it’s balancing your work and home life. 

In yoga, we find balance in all areas. Taking what you learn on the mat and bringing it into your daily life is when yoga is really put to the test. Look at the mind, body and breath as a whole: one fluid system; if one of the three is affected you may feel off balance. In yoga, we look to strengthen the connection between the mind, body and breath to enable ourselves to find our true nature and our balance. 

If you’re breath is constricted, strained, shallow, check in with the body - is something going on that you were previously unaware of? What about the mind - are thoughts racing causing that altered breathing? This technique can be applied on and off the mat, and however often is needed. By “checking in” we bring more understanding of ourselves to the forefront.

Taking this practice to the mat: Tree Pose. 

First, connect your feet to the floor, feeling the toes, the balls of the feet and the heels all grounding the body. Check in with the mind, is it clear to allow fullness to the breath and awareness to your body. If thoughts are racing, allow them to gentle flow by, and bringing your attention to your posture, as you straighten up through the spine, and reach up toward the ceiling/sky with the crown of the head. 

Begin to turn out one foot (to a comfortable distance, allowing opening through the hip). As you feel the hip opening, also feel the breath deepening. Ask, is this your balance today?

If more is needed the turned out foot will begin to slide up the standing leg, being sure not to place pressure onto the standing knee with that foot. Can you breathe fully here? 

The hands can come together at heart center, or the arms can rise up above the body, or stretch out to the side. Where would be balancing for you?

Breathe into the posture. And as you slowly release out of the posture, notice how it felt, the breath, the body, the mind, being sure to leave judgement behind. 

Then as you're ready, take the posture to the other side to find balance in the body. 

“Advice from a Tree: stand tall and proud, sink your roots into the earth, be content with your natural beauty, go out on a limb, drink plenty of water, remember your roots, enjoy the view.” 

• Ilan Shamir

Find your tree, your balance, your true nature.

Namaste.

You Are Not Alone

Anxiety is unique in every individual it comes in contact with, but know that you are not alone.

I’ve always been a tad on the anxious side, to say it nicely. Honestly - my anxiety, let’s call her Misunderstood (or Missy), has taken so much from me over the course of my lifetime thus far, that I feel a lump in my throat as I write this down. But, as my own yoga practice strengthens, I feel Missy weakening her grasps on me. 

What has she taken from me? To name a few things… my voice, strength, self-appreciation, time, places, experiences, and the list goes on.

A little over 4 1/2 years ago my family experienced a significant loss and it was a direct trigger on increasing my anxiety and depression, strengthening Missy, and pushing my true Self into hiding. 

On and off during those 4 1/2 years, I’d find myself terrified to leave the house, in hysterics driving my car, and at a loss for words during conversations feeling disconnected from everything. 

The strangest thing, I thought I was alone. The only one to feel this pain, anger, sadness, frustration and anxiety. Now that I’ve named Missy and reflected on what she’s taken, I see that she is not me, she is not the truth, and I am not alone. 

I have a voice, I am strong, I am beautiful, I can take time out of my day to simply breathe, I can go places, I can do what makes my soul happy. 

Even though my experiences with anxiety are my own individual ones, I know that the tools that have helped me to recognize the real truths of myself can and will help others. 

I’d invite you to take a moment to sit in silence and find one thing that your anxiety has taken from you. Hold it lightly and gently and write it down. Now put the thought to the side, out of mind (I know, easier said than done). It took me a long time to do this one step. It wasn’t because I didn’t know what it’d taken, but I was stubborn to let it go. Now take a deep breath in and out through the nose. 

This anxiety is not feeding you truth, it is not you and you are not alone. Please recognize that this one small step is bringing you closer to your true self and that there is more to you than your anxiety, even if you’ve lived with it your whole life.

If all you take out of this is one single word, one piece of the puzzle of anxiety, here is is: BREATHE.