Yoga – Page 3 – Frozen Spaghetti

Psalm 80 for the Modern Person

September 17, 2023September 17, 2023by ErinLeave a Comment

I found Psalm 80 to be so applicable when you feel stuck in a relationship situation. The poetry in it when you read it several times is wildly symbolic to how we must listen to our needs of our body & spirit to navigate trying situations. And how recognizing your desire for something different is part of the change you crave. Soli Deo Gloria.

Listen,

To the voice that guides me to choose rest & hydration, that leads me alongside others who value rest & hydration & other good things,

You are spiritual in nature. In between the creation of music & music itself, in the blend of harmony.

You, spiritual voice that guides us to choose good things for our bodies, you are a light.

We all have access to you. You give perspective.

Come present now and help us all see. (v. 1,2)

selah

To wake up clear headed, to feel able & willing – this is what will mark a shift in my perspective. This is what we all need.

To smile, like a sunflower smiling at the sun.

To feel clear, able & willing, to smile from the heart – that is how I want to feel when I wake up. This will make a difference.

The rut I am in feels long. I know it will pass but this? This is brutal.

My body has taken in grief.

All of my relationships and my experiences within them point me to some aspect of this cycle I am in.

Shift my perspective so I wake fresh with a clear mind. Bring my eyes open through the beauty of the natural world so I can feel strong in my spirit and generous with kindness. (v. 3-7)

selah

The character of people & circumstances flourish and mature in the pattern of nature: rooting, transforming through seasons, branching out, producing fruit. (v. 8-11)

Since this can be seen as truth, so must it be true we can be taken advantage of, we can be wiped out… conditions can cause us to wilt.

Why? Because it is natural? Natural to end? To go to compost?

So this could be it for me, for the relationship, for the situation, for the job. This could be the end. (v. 12-14)

Yet, I am writing this because my spirit is alive and desiring growth and relationship.

It feels anointed, my suffering feels directional – strengthen me in this. (v. 15-17)

So, again, please –

Divine perspective, clear trustworthy voice, you – the radical shift that comes in day to day miracles & awe inspiring wonder –

Hold me with your left hand’s counsel & protect me with the power of your right,

I am committed to understanding.

I will trust your presence.

I will recognize the present compared to the past and I will remain present in relationship to the future.

Warm my heart, teach me gentleness – so I can be clear with the most precise good thought. (v. 18-19)

On Teaching Yoga

Listening to the Bod

May 19, 2023May 19, 2023by ErinLeave a Comment

I am teaching a ton lately. The main studio I teach from has a few teachers traveling or out for personal reasons so I picked up quite a few classes to help out. At 4:30pm yesterday, I was teaching my 3rd class of the day and found my body resisting any and all plans I had for class.

The only thing I made a note of that my body agreed would for sure be a part of class was a traditional flow through the 6 directions of the spine. (Which a human should do daily for optimal health, so not a lot of room for debate there, anyhow..)

When I teach yoga, I am continually relaying invitations to my students’ practices based on what I am noticing in my own body. I call it cueing “acute yoga” – sharing felt sensations – moving awareness around and inviting breath to coordinate with one’s inner gaze.

The yoga I teach is a direct reflection of my personal practice so if I don’t do it? I don’t teach it.

As the class of 5 settled in, I shared with them about how much I have been teaching and – as such – have noticed the increase of dedicated time tuning into my bod has me in more fluid communication with my body. They chuckled when I shared the very true story about how, when eating a caprese salad before meeting my daughter (knowing I would take her out for a burger) my body said, “thank you – I really like this.”

“You’re welcome.” I replied :)

I mentioned earlier I don’t teach what I don’t do so, I thought in this inaugural journal On Teaching Yoga, I would share some foundational parts of my yoga & belief system.

1) I see the body as the first gift given in this life making it miraculous, spiritual, communicative

2) I pay attention to inner voice and inner dialogue and talk back, using breath & inner gaze as buffers between thoughts

3) I notice what I feel in my belly / chest / etc related to the thoughts I have and when images come to mind

4) I practice revolving consciousness and ascending breath as meditation 3 – 5 times weekly

It has been almost a year that I have been back in the studio after a COVID induced hiatus, teaching from my personal practice which has evolved immensely from when I graduated YTT in 2016.

Not only do I LOVE teaching yoga more than I ever have before, but that the way I am teaching these days has me talking more about the practice before and after class with others. AND I LOVE THIS EVEN MORE THAN TEACHING YOGA! :)

I am hearing from students on how the tone of the teacher’s voice and the presence of self displayed by the instructor impacts the practice.

I am learning how invitations to notice felt sensation ushers in a deeper flavor of being human.

I am learning about when they feel connected or disconnected from their bodies.

And in the studio – I am noticing how truly humbling it is to watch bodies move when I teach because they are teaching me. It’s so freaking cool.

In all of this, I am paying attention, big time, to how it all comes together because of that #1 foundational part of my yoga: the body is a miraculous communicative device. The body is so amazing: every cell, every memory.

There is a scripture I love love love love love (1 Corinthians 2:11) that emphasizes how nobody can know us – our body – our experience better than we know it and, likewise, we cannot know our body and our experience better than the Spirit of God.

When you look at what neuroscience tells us about how the left brain only ever registers roughly 4% max of the body’s sensory experience in a given moment, that scripture makes more sense than ever. Think about it. I sure am.

There are at least a half of a dozen other things I could say right now but I think I’ll wrap it up as listening to the body is a big huge wide topic and I am so curious where people are with this.

What do you guys think? What is the last thing your body said to you other than “I’m tired!” or “I’m hungry!” ???

This is totally a favorite thing for me to talk about!! I would love to know :)

PS – anybody have a trustworthy resource on somatic spirituality?

Words in Sentences

On Peace

February 5, 2023February 5, 2023by Erin1 Comment

It’s Sunday morning and I’m outside by a fire in some great midwestern Feb sun, a hoodie and with a jelly jar of 2019 (our engagement year) Washington red wine.

David is walking up with some dry firewood I had stashed in my vintage (2006?) Honda from a workshop I taught back in the fall. I am breathing deep and reflecting – a lot – on Kindness, its relationship to Peace and how often we are required to call these forward because there is more LOVE in our life.

That’s right. I believe as Love increases in your life, there is a shift in how much Peace you experience.

Think about getting a puppy. More Love, less Peace. It makes sense.

Just as I write this, I notice the warm body of my blonde boy dog, Thor. Gorgeous dog, honestly who is now getting pets and ear strokes from David. Also enjoying the casual sunshine on a winter morning, we all know spring is a thing and are happy to see the world turning its way.

I believe as God gives you more Love through people and through dogs, the shift in how much Peace the external world gives you is not to make you question the Love or its meaning but to draw you inward. For what more is the spirit of Peace than the breath? The balance of alternate nostril breathing, the purification of breath of fire, the immediate effects of more oxygen in the brain from simple 3 part or 6 count inhales. I mean. Peace, I think, has always been meant to come from within.

I like to say I don’t know what I am doing with my life and I tend towards the struggle of “what’s the point and purpose” but I know how it feels to stumble upon freeing spiritual perspective and if there is one thing I can offer the world, it would be – at minimum – a sample of the truth in my life that is making navigation easier. Note: It’s not making hard things easier, it’s making the navigation of life easier. Hard things will always be hard.

My reflections this morning started as noticing how self love is God’s love and morphed into how inner peace is God’s Peace. I read Psalm 13 and replaced “Lord” with Peace and broke down the words to feel applicable: “How long, Peace – will you forget me forever? How long will you hide what you look like these days (face) from me?”

What does Peace look like these days?

There is an American Spiritual Song that references Peace “like a river” – Peace as changeable, fluid, evolving. But yet, always in the same direction – always headed for it’s bigger place. Able to carry, able to be explored. Peace can look like anything.

For me, a big part of my spiritual life is noticing how my faith in something bigger than me that gives me purpose requires me to grow and change. I think of the whole process like a plant. A little tender plant brought home from the nursery and how – no matter how long I have been gardening – I always brace myself for that first heavy rain or forceful wind. Astonished the next morning how the plant seems a little stronger because of what it weathered.

Its first full day in blazing sun where it looks parched and in desperate need of water, to then drink and seem to have grown an inch.

What are you taking in? Through your body, your senses, your heart? And how is the heat of it? The force of it? Changing you?

That growth, seems to be, an internal process based on what the plant takes in from the outside.

So what does Peace look like for you today?

And how can you use that breath – that fire – that sunshine – that ease to allow the internal processes to take in the elements of life and transform your heart?

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