Rules

My son and his family will be moving in with us this summer as they transition from military life to civilian life. I personally can't wait to spend some time getting to know my granddaughter. But carving out room for three people to move in has not been an easy task. I'm glad I started early and have cut it into smaller pieces.

What I've discovered is we have too much stuff! This is a good time to downsize. Do we really need all those VHS tapes and electric bills from the early 80's? I found the manual for the first refrigerator we bought and the elusive instructions to the ice maker that never worked.

What I found hilarious was the manual for the refrigerator was in a file labeled, "Manuals, Rules and Warranties." My husband thought the "Rules" part was hilarious. It was written in my teenage handwriting when I started keeping my own files. There's a reason I'm in accounting! Some of the rules I found were for tennis, chess and some other board games. I was half expecting to see the rules for my life in there. He made me call my mom and ask her what the name of her file was for manuals and warranties. He figured they would be the same because we both get annoyed with those that don't follow the rules. I called her and she said it just said "Warranties." She threw the rules out long ago. I know what she means. I spent a lot of time in my early life trying to control everything and follow the rules, but find as I get older letting go of things makes life much easier.

When I go to yoga tonight I'm going to try and let go of not being able to do the poses perfectly and just let my body feel the benefits I do get from it. It's not always physical. Letting go of being perfect and not always following the rules lets you be yourself. It's called practing yoga for a reason. As in life, practicing anything prepares you for whatever is to come. Practicing yoga in all aspects of my life makes me whole. Thinning out our paperwork and belongings will allow more room for other things to happen in our space and life.

Namaste.

Success

Maybe it just comes with age and experience, but at some point you don't give a damn what anyone else thinks. If everyone would just be happy within themselves, there wouldn't be all the problems in the world. I just fear that we wait until we're much older to have this attitude.

I just recently wrote up my "success" story for the Studio 4 Pilates newsletter about losing 23 pounds after I joined as a member. One of my classmates thought of me and my success story when her friend wanted to start exercise but felt she couldn't do yoga because she was overweight. My yoga teacher asked what prompted me to finally start an intense exercise program? I said the bathroom scale, weight, sore knees, but the question kept mulling over in my head as I lay in savasana that night in yoga. It really was more than just losing weight because my knees hurt. It goes back to having major surgery a few years ago to have my thyroid removed and completely going through a metamorphosis. Maybe you'd call it a mid-life crisis. Whatever it was, I know myself deeper than I ever have before. Losing my thyroid helped me become comfortable with who I am, inside and out. A major change can make you take a totally different path. And you also have a choice in how you deal with that change; whether positively or negatively.

It took several years of exploration, but I'm at the right place now, physically, mentally, spiritually. My life feels balanced. So when my yoga teacher asked what prompted me to take on yoga and Pilates and lose weight, it was more than the scale and aching knees. It was the culmination of my lifetime of experience and dealing with a major crisis in my life to finally have everything make sense. Knowing that if I don't take this one little pill every day or I would be dead within 30 days really made me rethink everything. Don't wait until that moment when you can't turn back, take on life now. You never know what the next moment holds. The greatest adventure of your life happens now.

Frank Jude Boccio and Yoga Journal offers some ideas for a change-friendly inner life:

"Every morning, repeat a gatha (mindfulness verse): 'Great is the matter of birth and death; impermanence surrounds us. Be awake each moment; do not waste your life.' Life doesn't give you breathing room, but if you stop grasping for control of the uncontrollable, you can learn to breathe through it all."

Kayaking-Taking Things On

My husband looked out into the ocean with trepidation and turned to me and said, "You really want to do this?" He knows that I'm not a fan of being in the water and especially getting into the ocean and he is not a fan of exercise. Paddling really didn't seem that appealing to him. But my mind was set. I really wanted to get in a kayak and see things you can't see from the shore. I want to kayak to beaches you can't get to normally or float alongside the whales. Or take photos from a completely different perspective.

Finally past the repressed memories of my sister falling overboard from a raft when we were little. She almost drowned and my dad saved her. Throughout my childhood I thought it was me that it happened to. A traumatic event witnessed and repressed into my head. When I met my husband several decades ago, I told him I was afraid of the water because I fell out of a raft and almost drown. My family heard the story and said it wasn't you, it was your sister. I really had taken it on that it was me, although my mind knew it was my sister all along. It's taken me a couple of decades to get over that and through it. I actually swam in the Caribbean a couple of years ago and now I'm kayaking. What's next? Maybe I'll actually swim underwater again. :)

It was very empowering for me to know I had the strength and stamina to get in that kayak and paddle through waves and out into the bay exploring sea caves. I've never felt such adventure and excitement. It's about time!

Practicing yoga and Pilates on a regular basis and focusing on my health has opened new paths for me. To have my body strong and healthy has opened my mind to new possibilities. The spiritual side of yoga has helped me with visualizing those things I want to do and then taking that inspired action and doing them.

Know your truth

From Daily OM:
March 24, 2010
The Ultimate Authority
Using Our Own Minds
"Our own sense of the truth is the most important piece when taking in information from external sources."

I was watching American Idol the other night and one of the contestants, Crystal Bowersox, was receiving critisism from the judges. Some were saying she should not use her guitar, some were saying she should always use her guitar. The host asked her who she was going to listen to and she simply answered, "Me." She knows her truth. She takes in all the information but in the end it is her take on things that she listens to. I think she will win the contest or at least be in the top two. She knows who she is.

The article above from Daily Om goes on to state: "We need only take a brief look at history to remember that the religious, scientific, and political establishments that ruled the day were all wrong about something at some point in time. This is the beauty of learning, experiencing, and evolving. While we sometimes wish we could just let someone else decide for us what is real and true, this is clearly not a viable option. The good news in all this is that we can confidently devote ourselves to making up our own minds about reality, taking everything that is handed to us as truth with a grain of salt." I hope that as a society today we can all learn what our own truth is. I especially send this out to our politicians with a blessing that they let us continue to know our own truth and trust us to be who we are. It's just not a viable option to let others think for you.

Savasana

My yoga teacher, Linda Grace, gave us an assignment Monday night at our restorative practice; challenge ourselves to do a 20 minute savasana (corpse pose) every day. Give yourself that time to relax and just breath. She said to think about when and where you would do this each day, what kind of music you would play, what props you would use. It's not as easy as you think to find 20 minutes a day to just lay still.

So here it is Friday and I have not found the time to do a 20 minute savasana a day. Well we did one last night at our Thursday class and someone asked how everyone was doing with the challenge. Only one person had tried it in the evening and they said it was hard. You keep hearing the household buzzing around you and then the rest of the family is wondering where you are and "What are you doing?" Linda Grace said when trying new things it's sometimes harder before it gets easier but to keep trying. I had even started this blog Tuesday morning about this subject and hadn't finished it, probably because I hadn't found the time to start the challenge myself.

Judith Lasatar says, "Everyone who is alive in the world has exactly the same amount of time each day." It's up to you how you use it. A 20 minute relaxation break seems like a nice thing to do for yourself. I always look forward to it in class, why shouldn't I look forward to it every day of my life?

Loss

What is the lesson of loss? To lose something is to open another spot up in your being for something else. You lose weight, you open up a spot for better health, more activity, longer life. You lose a loved one, you open up your heart to the memories that helped you become you. Often loss causes reflection on where you are in your life and you set new goals, new paths. In yoga you are opening up your heart, exposing yourself to looking at things in a new way. Sometimes it's upside down, sometimes it's from deep within, other times just being present gives you another way of looking at something. Loss is not bad, loss is growth. Namaste.

Size 6

No, I'm not into a size 6 but I tried a pair of size 6 jeans on and got them over my hips! I had to stop myself from squeeling out loud in the dressing room. Was I ever a size 6? I did buy some new jeans in size 8. I'm actually very happy in a size 8. I put my goal weight on Weight Watcher's at 140 but I really think 145ish is probably more realistic for me. I'm at 155 right now. I see my doctor next month and will discuss it with her. I'm losing about a pound a week, unless I over-indulge and then I stay the same give or take a pound.