love is all we need

I love just how real Misty Pittman keeps it in this blog post. Read up and enjoy friends. xo, sharon

 

 

Late last December I was introduced to the notion of having one word that could guide me through 2013.  A word to explore, deconstruct, embody, grow into, challenge, and inspire me.  

I almost settled on the word TRUST, but fate led me to LOVE, and I settled in.

I think about this word daily.  I hold it close to my heart and ask it many questions.  I am surprised by it and, at times, disappointed in it.  I imagined that living a year of love would be easy peasy.  It's supposed to be glowing and sweet and comforting.  Everlasting.  Except, I'm learning that it's not.

There's the gripping panic that comes when love changes.  The confusion of love waxing and waning.  The desperation of attachment to keep everything we love just as it is, to keep it safe.  With love, there is bound to be fear.  

One aspect that I'm getting curious about is what effect falling out of love has on us.  When we are no longer enamored with a new beau.  When a hobby that was once joyful becomes tedious.  When friendships lose their sparkle.  When our dream career turns lackluster.  When the smell of a favorite meal makes us feel queasy.

Cue disappoint and boredom.  

My yoga practice is one example.  I have a huge love/dislike relationship with my practice.  I can go from daily down dogs to dreading my mat in the blink of an eye.  Sometimes I ceremoniously read Yoga Journal (tea, sunny spot, breeze), sometimes they pile up in the corner for months, nagging me as one other thing I need to do.  Things can get stale pretty quickly.  I try to revisit the things that drew me to the practice initially.  I might talk myself into only spending five minutes in, what used to be, my favorite go to pose.  Meh.  These things do nothing for me.

I'm learning that it's not about hanging on to the things that I once loved, it's about accepting where I am right now and then finding new ways to keep the love going.  We fall in love with what's new and exciting.  For me, that might mean practicing a pose I've never done before or studying a different aspect of yoga that I've never considered.  Sometimes it means changing location or intention.  When I get it right, when I find that thing that brings the practice back to life for me, I can get back to bliss.  

I'm learning to love these in between moments.  I'm making peace with the discomfort it brings, the feelings of confusion and questioning.  Because it's during these times when I know that something new is waiting to be discovered.  And I love that.  

Is there something in your world that has lost it's sparkle?  Something that you know is worth holding onto but no longer fulfills you? Can you find another way of being with it that encourages excitement?  Maybe it's finding a way to simply love the change and be open to a new phase.

I am a true believer that love is the magic cure to everything that ails us. 

this unfolding journey

Good Monday morning Friends....I'm delighted to share this blog post with you written by our new college graduate, Meredith Swim. I hope you're as inspired by her as I am. Keep rocking this thing called Life, Meredith. xo, sharon

Hello Blog Travelers!

I am writing this post as a college graduate! Hurray! As the graduation celebrations have drawn to an end I have found myself in a transitional phase. My yoga practice is an absolutely essential part of my day as I breathe my way through ambiguity and begin to shape my post-grad plan.

My inner poet articulates this yoga relationship a bit more fluidly…

Unrolling the yoga mat is part of this unfolding journey.

Vinyasa flow from one stage to another

with child poses and conscious breaths

to ease the rough in-betweens.

Diving into my downdog with delight in the desire

to re-discover the wisdom planted in my feet and the advice waiting to be given from the stretch in my hamstrings.

I’m backbending to open my heart

and see what passions dwell inside.

Breathing-in so I can hear

the true voice that speaks so very quietly at times,

and exhaling to release the crowd shouting out advice.

Re-affirming that we all have our own journeys and we all have different paths destined to take

Comparing and contrasting causes too much tension in my shoulder blades.

In half-moons I reach up for the stars, thinking of future destinations and ambitions achieved, but if my drishti is too focused in the future,

I lose the moment and forget to breathe.

In savasana I surrender to the Earth

and let Her hold me.

I let go, again and again, and again.

The mat pardons my repeated mistake in thinking that I have to be so much more than whatever this breath or moment asks me to be.

A quiet forgiveness emerges as I settle into my skin, realizing this post-grad moment, with all its questions, insecurities, and dreams, is the exact place I need to be.

A vinyasa or two, child poses in-between and a few swan dives to stretch my wings reclaims the Center I am so eagerly seeking.

A Namaste blesses the rest of the day and I step off my mat with to graciously embrace the day.