Yogic Self- Care and Planning
November signals the start of a bustling holiday season for many. Amid the societal hustle, I encourage you slow down and create some plans for nourishment time- time away from technology, time in nature, time with friends and family and inviting something simple in that brings you joy and gratitude.
How do you feel about planning and how do you respond if your plans don't go as you wished? Yoga teaches flexibility not just in the hamstrings but also in the mind relating to our thoughts, plans, actions and responses to our self and others. As an earth-grounded person, I simply love planning as part of the process of creating something from nothing. I love looking at big-picture connections and putting things together. It doesn't matter if it’s a Thanksgiving dinner menu, a yoga wall workshop series, a weekend getaway, a pottery pop-up sale, or a weeklong yoga and art retreat!
The thrill for me is in the process of making mental and physical space to design a plan and create space so ideas can begin to cultivate and percolate into something that can actually materialize. I treat my planning as a sacred activity and a form of self-care. Over time, my planning has become less about what I want to have and do, and more about how I want to feel and where I want to shine in my life. We all face the necessary “have to’s”, like cleaning the bathroom. Try doing with a sentiment that even these types of mundane actions can be very rewarding in stilling the mind and clearing space. This tantric yoga approach in making the mundane sacred has helped me stay in the ‘now’ and not necessarily attach to the outcome of how the plan unfolds.
The thrill for me is in the process of making mental and physical space to design a plan and create space so ideas can begin to cultivate and percolate into something that can actually materialize. I treat my planning as a sacred activity and a form of self-care. Over time, my planning has become less about what I want to have and do, and more about how I want to feel and where I want to shine in my life. We all face the necessary “have to’s”, like cleaning the bathroom. Try doing with a sentiment that even these types of mundane actions can be very rewarding in stilling the mind and clearing space. This tantric yoga approach in making the mundane sacred has helped me stay in the ‘now’ and not necessarily attach to the outcome of how the plan unfolds.
Yoga has also helped me to know where and when to put boundaries around myself; how to say ‘yes’ and ‘no. There does not necessarily need to be a detailed response or explanation to yourself and others. Instead, I try to know who and what I am serving and how I might need to pivot in any given moment. These mini- moments of awareness and check-ins all have honestly evolved from my practices on the mat. Trust me, fire log pose for my body tells me a lot of what I don't want to hear! I bow down with gratitude to the ancient practices of yoga for showing me the light and the way not to grip my body, or force a plan if it is not meant to unfold. Instead, it shows me the way of connection to myself, and the world I living in.
This balance happens when we accept what we can and can’t do, should and shouldn't be done, after setting the plan in motion and trying. The heightened awareness happens when we tap into our own true nature and accept of our imperfect perfection. Is there some plan and out come that you’re holding onto? Maybe the plan just needs to be tweaked like the yoga practice shifts during the seasons and as you change over time. Can you shift a plan now? Or are you always setting yourself up to try to conquer something to perfection for sense of satisfaction? News flash, the to-do list of giving and living, along with the self-study of inner work, is never done.
Yoga is the practice and the union of living with one’s self, in constant change with all emotions, mental afflictions, and physical changes during our moments on this earth. The self- realization is in your magnificence of being perfectly imperfect.
I hope you make a plan to jump into the process of the yoga practice and always question, “what is right for you?” with a plan to stay consistent with practice over time releasing the outcome of best-laid plans.
As BKS Iyengar said, "Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured."
There are so many ways to practice yoga, not just with the third limb of yoga, asana. I hope you join me and yourself for a practice that helps you breathe fully, move mindfully in your body and connect to your spirit so that you are centered, nurtured and ready for whatever life’s master plan comes your way.
With deepest gratitude
To this earth we walk on,
To these bodies we inhabit
And the breath we breathe and share
Happy Thanksgiving !
OM SHANTI
Dani
