right here, right now

I feel like there is so much pressure in our society for us to look ahead to the future.

In school, it seems like every choice we make is in order to set us up for the future: What class is a pre-requisite for that major? What major do I need for that job? What internship will look good on my résumé? It's easy to get so caught up in preparing for the future that we miss out on the present.

Sometimes we plan things out perfectly, just to have everything fall apart. Now I'm not saying that we should go into situations blindly without preparation, but when we are attached to particular outcomes we often set ourselves up for disappointment. Not to mention the stress and worry that comes along with anticipation. Why spend needless hours/days/months freaking out about something that may never happen? When we are able to drop our story about needing to be in control life, we allow ourselves to live more fully in the present. 

In yoga, we have the opportunity to put that aside and take every pose one breath at a time. Try to embrace each posture without distracting yourself with thoughts like: How long are we going to hold this? What is coming next?

Here is the playlist for class today:

hike + yoga

In celebration of Earth Day I took 20 UW students to hike Rattlesnake Ridge followed by yoga at the lake. We had a blast!

Rattlesnake Ridge is one of my favorite hikes. There are a few different trail options - the one we did was 4 miles round-trip.

The trail winds through a forested area up to the top of a ridge where there is a gorgeous view of the lake!

We hung out at the top of the ridge for about a half hour to drink water, have snacks, and take yoga pictures. Gotta say that being on the edge of a cliff add a whole new element to balancing!

 When we finished hiking, we found a nice grassy area by the lake to do yoga.

 After class bliss :)

We had such a great time that I'm going to do the same thing in June for a group of my coworkers. Fingers crossed that we will get another perfect sunshine day!

twist and shout

I read a great article yesterday called Breaking the Blame Cycle. I can completely relate to the situations described: "If class was hard for me, I’d blame the teacher. ... If I had difficulty holding downward dog or plank pose, I’d blame the teacher for keeping us there too long. ... Eventually, I realized that the more I blamed others, the more judgmental I became of everyone and everything."

In my last post, I talked about listening to intuition and finding interior power. This is all great in theory, but sometimes it's really hard! I notice that I often blame outside situations or people for my choices or circumstances. It's easy to think: "I would eat healthy, but it's girl's night and everyone is having pizza; or I would go to bed early, but I feel obligated to go to that event; or I would exercise, but it's raining outside. etc."

The more I make excuses and blame others, the more I feel resentful that I am stuck in a rut. Every now and then it's a good reminder to take responsibility and flip things around. A great way to do that is through twisting yoga postures. Twists can be uncomfortable because you are compressing your internal organs, pushing out blood and toxins. When you release a twist, oxygen rich blood flows in to heal your system. Using twists in yoga can also help to clear out old thought patterns that may have you feeling stuck.

We did quite a few twists in class yesterday along with an extended dolphin plank series that left most everyone flat on the floor laughing and groaning. Of course after all that hard work, it's important to have a nice long savasana :)
Here is the playlist:

Intuition

Oops, I'm two weeks behind in blog posts. Work & life have been busy I guess!

I love reading and am typically reading 2-3 books at any given time. A few months ago I had a conversation with someone who said to me: "what are you searching for? you have then answers inside of you already." For some reason that came back to my mind recently so I've been thinking a lot about intuition. Frequently I find myself looking to external sources for information, answers, guidance, etc. when maybe all I need to do is look inside.

The theme of my class on 4/28 was intuition and here are the quotes I read:

• At the center of your being you have the answer; you know you are and you know what you want. ~Lao Tzu

• To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

• In that moment of surrender I had become aware of an interior power - my intuition - that had been there all the time. ~Baron Baptiste

Here is the playlist: