For the Love of yoga

When I first found yoga, I was in a life situation that demanded I get out of my head and into the silence of my own heart so I could hear God's voice and direction. This yoga class was everything I should have hated: slow moving, silent, 75-minutes to cover THREE very basic postures (staff, tree, and table top), and it took 8 weeks to build the sun salutations.  

I was used to going mock 2 with my hair on fire. Even with all this, I fell in love with my yoga class, for it was the one class where I wasn't judged on how good I performed, or if I looked the part, or anything else. I was allowed to be, to breathe, and to receive, instead of "do." I loved the way I felt AFTER class--more grounded, more clarity in my mind and in my heart. It was a SAFE space for me. It may have been the first time IN MY ENTIRE LIFE I actually exhaled.  I truly fell in love.

Like any new relationship, I had to have my yoga wherever I went.  I couldn't afford to continue yoga classes so I did yoga on my own. I was thirsty for yoga knowledge and techniques.  I read anything I could get my hands on. This yoga supported me through many dark and twisty life situations.  It changed me in so many way. It was the catalyst to me leaving a situation with someone I loved, to taking a leap of faith to explore a new career path, to making new friendship choices, to viewing 'success' as a place in my heart rather than large numbers in my bank account or on my paycheck, to viewing life in simple pleasures rather than huge accomplishments, and to enjoy resting.  It made things clear in my mind and in my heart.

They say love ripens over time, and I gotta tell you, it really is true. Love has a way of changing our world in more ways than we could ever imagine. My relationship with yoga has continued to grow deeper over the last 25 years because I got to know more about each aspect of myself (body, mind, and spirit) through the poses, the sequencing, the history, and the philosophy. The learning is never ending just like inner transformation. It and we are always evolving.

I was blessed to have had some amazing teachers cross my path who brought new yogic insights which helped me grow even deeper and fall even more in love with yoga, myself, and ultimately with God. Which is really the point of yoga...to prepare the mind and body to mediate with God. It's all about relationship!

Yoga has allowed me to give myself permission to wrestle with God and faith, to shed my insecurities, and to enjoy life rather than becoming slave to my driven and dare I say, perfectionist way of being. Yoga's tools have taught me to slow down, to be present, to enjoy, and most importantly to live from the heart. To love authentically and free fall, full of faith.

I love more freely now and am now just a type A rather than type AAAA. I get to take time to learn something new like learning to snowboard from my daughter this last year and being okay with sucking at it. This last year I got to walk 22 miles with a loved one and laugh until my belly hurt and met random strangers along the way. I got to take road trips by car and by motorcycle where I got to not only see amazing things, but see things from new perspectives. I got to travel by plane to live in paradise for 10 days, experience fire dances, hike waterfalls, and watch whales with their babies.

By giving myself this space to enjoy life, it always brings me back to my yoga with a renewed sense of appreciation and value. I am blessed for all the lessons and hard truths about myself, God, and life my practice has taught me and helped me to see. My devotion to God and yoga are ones that won't ever stop.  

What I used to do on my mat 14 years. 8 years, even 3 years ago is so very different than what I do on my mat now. This teaches me to not hold on to what I'm doing now, but to be open to how things will change in my life and on my mat in the years to come. To accept the flow of life and understand the I am to be the change I wish to see in the world. To use the God-given talents to fulfill my dharma, or purpose I was created for. To understand and live in the fact I am here solely for the audience of ONE and I can let go of learned expectations, others' expectations, and all the you are supposed to's. I can be the witness to my thoughts, emotions, and circumstances in order to see the truth at the heart of the matter, decision, or path forward.

2023 has been a a year filled with many, many changes, challenges, and triumphs.

So....as the winter brings this year to a close, I salute the past and welcome the future.....no matter what it holds....the good and the bad.....for it is all one big lesson on how to BE.....not do.  

Just open your heart, love one another and your yoga......and BE.  BE still and KNOW!!

Thank you for another amazing year of sharing life together.
Namaste,
Trish

Hitting PAUSE

Hitting the Pause Button enables me to harness my full creative powers to write, draw, speak, and strategize from a neutral space with no over-riding agenda. Pausing also allows me to refine my intentions.  That is, my aims/intentions are preferences and not should’s or have to’s.  I make space for other possibilities to arise.  No attachments.

Before I began to type this blog, I paused and went within.  I cleared the slate and asked “What wants to be shared?  What wants to come through right now?”  Some of the time I have an inkling of what to say; other times, I make the space and see what unfolds.

At the start of the day, my meditation is a “pregnant pause” for the waking hours ahead.  It literally wipes the slate of my mind clean, so I’m in a better state to pose a question and listen: “What is there for me to focus on today? How can I experience the most joy, confidence, carefreeness, or whatever quality I wish?”

After stepping onto my yoga mat, hitting the Pause Button allows me to infuse greater consciousness into my practice.  The consciousness I bring onto the mat is what differentiates a yoga session from a sweaty work-out to a moving meditation that takes me inward. To be clear, there’s no judgement.  Both are welcome. Both have their purpose. Both are satisfying.

Before walking into a thorny conflict, pausing gives me a chance to quickly assess: Am I carrying any pre-conceived notions into this crucial conversation?  How can I expand my perspective to arrive at a mutually agreeable conclusion?  What is our shared pool of meaning I can draw from? hitting the Pause button enables me to empty any baggage and be fully present to engage and respond.

Right before a class, a workshop or a presentation, I  hit Pause before entering the space where I will be (sometimes I duck into the bathroom) and get aligned through deep breathing, grounding and prayer.  It calms my mind, lifts my spirit, and reminds me to focus on the audience and God’s leading rather than focusing on myself, what I want to accomplish, or any other agenda I want to play out.  I need to be present and flow with whatever is NEEDED and be available to go where God directs me to go and to receive what my students need in the moment. Once I commit to the Pause, I can become present and again....respond, not react.

Keep in mind the Pause comes in handy all the time.  It is not just for presentations or teaching.  It is for any conversation we walk into, any interaction we have, anytime our children/significant other/family member come to us.  The pause also allows space where we can heal or grieve the loss of a relationship, a loved one, a job, an idea of what we want, a goal which cannot be achieved, or anything else.  

Hitting Pause gives us a moment to become present within ourself.  In order to heal, we NEED to feel.  We need to be able to listen when our soul speaks, to hear a loved one speak, to hear and see what is happening behind their smile, and especially to hear God’s voice leading us so we can follow. 

For me, I tend to always want an answer or a fix.  Pausing allows me to create a container for whatever the circumstance is and remind myself to let go of my attachment to outcome.  It’s more about the journey, not the destination and sometimes we are just too focused on the destination to notice any part of the journey we are on…..whether its our own journey or being a part of another’s sojourn.  

Hit Pause for presence. Hit Pause to become brilliantly rooted in God-filtered eyes, heart and soul. We are all just travelers in the wilderness of this world and the best we can find in our travels is an honest, soul-level friend who Pauses too….finds their own presence….their own connection to God……and waits for us to speak.

Okay then….best be hitting your PAUSE button....and often.

Onward and upward.

Seasons of Life

Well here we are in Wisconsin…wondering is it spring yet as we still have those chilly nights and then also getting antsy for summer.  Have you ever really thought about the changing of the seasons?  Or is it just one of those things that happens?  Is it something that you look forward to or something you dread?

• Spring…typically thought of as a time of rapid growth.  The turning of the tide from dormancy to life when everything bursts out in bloom. It is time for change.
• Summer…a time of warmth and light and also slow, steady growth.
• Autumn…a time of change and preparation.  We look toward what lies ahead while celebrating what has past. It is a time to let go of what didn’t take root.
• Winter…a time of beauty in hardship.  It is a space of holding steady and hibernation.

What if we take a moment to consider how, just like the earth has seasons, our lives also go through seasons?

The seasons of our life are, sadly, not as predictable as the earth’s!  Sometimes our seasons last a long time – sometimes a great deal longer than we want them to!  Sometimes they last for a short period of time.  Some years we may be in only one season while other years we may go through many, many seasons.

This is where the beauty lies!! Each season is different.  Each season will bring to us its own unique set of challenges, blessings, and opportunities.  Each season will reveal more of our character as we allow it to refine, prune, and shape us.  We cannot control the seasons coming into our life, but just as our yoga practice teaches us, we can control how we respond to each one.  When we walk into a season with an attitude of learning, growing, and curiosity,  there’s no end to what we can accomplish no matter if the season is warm and delightful or cold and dark.

So Spring….Here we are. The season where plants spring from the ground and leaves burst from the trees.  A time of new birth and explosive growth.  Spring is a jump-start, growing season.  A time of stretching.  A time of renewal and newness.  A time of planting.  Some growth we see immediately in spring, like leaves on the trees and the wildflowers springing from the ground.  Other growth, we have to plant and wait patiently for it to mature in the ground before it begins coming up and continues the slow, steady growth through summer.  Spring is a season of moving from the cold of winter to the warmth the sun brings.  It’s a season of renewal and fresh perspective.

It’s this way in life, as well!  Spring is a time where we move from the deep, inner learning of winter to living what we’ve learned.  It’s a time where we can see and feel growth happening.  Sometimes this growth is painful, but the results and the fruit are so worth the effort! Just like the sweetness of our savasana, the sweat and the struggle of our asana provide us the sweet release of rest. Spring offers us this rest from the winter we just experienced.

Spring is a time to be celebrated.  A time to marvel at the changes taking place in our life and in the lives of the people around us.  It is a time of high energy and sometimes a lot of action!  But in the action, in the commotion, in the excitement, don’t forget to take time to rest and savor the moments as they happen.  We need to live in the moment and enjoy them for all they’re worth! We need to remember to take time to appreciate all the growth, the new life, and the blooming that is happening.  

When the different seasons of life come (and they will) these memories of spring, the reminder of the joy and the fullness of growth will give us motivation to keep going.  These memories remind us no matter which season of life we’re in now, spring does come.

What season are you in right now? Each season looks different for each person.  Each season comes with its own unique set of challenges and blessings.  Each season is unique all to itself and no two seasons will look exactly the same.

Where do you find yourself right now?  Do you find yourself hating the season you’re in?  Longing for it to be over so that you can move on?  

One thing I have learned over and over again in this life is our mindset is KEY to the experience we will have within the season of our life.  Don’t simply try to get through it and get on with life.  Slow down.  Feel the feels. Grieve what needs to be grieved. Laugh at the insanity. Start to change your mindset and look a this hard time as a learning experience…a GROWTH opportunity rather than a time to simply endure and get behind you.  

As many of you know I am coming out of a deep, dark, LONG winter and am currently in syncopation with our earth’s season of spring. If you don’t know, the last 5 years have been quite the long winter filled with many devastations and challenges, from care giving to the aftermath of my father’s death, to a car accident where I could barely walk and still suffer its consequences, to untangling my life in a divorce, to moving twice in the last 3 months, to COVID almost destroying this yoga business, to the not fast enough rebuild of our yoga community after COVID, to the putting my dog down, and for the finale….the now present gift of having to move the yoga studio from where we have been for over 20 years. 

All of these circumstances taught me patience and perseverance. I was at the mercy of a process I had no control over. I am a shameless and relentless activator so waiting….unable to move something along…..the inability to take control was and is excruciating. With these struggles I was taught humility, grace, compassion, and the ability to ask for and ACCEPT love and help from others.  I freely give all these things to others, but to accept them….to ask for them….to give voice to what I need….well that is a big ask since I am used to going it alone, stepping up and in to whatever situation is before me, and handling it. I learned to be in the moment since it was literally a time where in the moment, one breath at a time, was all I could muster.

Some of these circumstances are still teaching me and are still interwoven in the fabric of my life.  For instance, the moving of the studio….I am in contract negations with the future building owner. The future building is under construction with no exact timeline to finish since supply chain issues continually provide challenges.  The new building owner in our current space will be making our studio into a wine bistro and this will require massive construction efforts and there is no definitive timeline to start. Once again, at the mercy of the system and the guidance of Magic 8 Ball…we cross our fingers and hope the time of future building and current building coincide so our yoga schedule remains in tact. We have contingent plans for if the timing does not work out….since I am a strategic thinker, however those plans depend on the weather being warmer in nature.  It’s a bit of a circus for sure and I am sure on the other side of this one day…..I will laugh and say “Wasn’t that something??!!”.  Right now, I’d rather say…..well not very nice things….most of which rhyme with Siri’s favorite autocorrect, Duck.

The key is to embrace our current season….no matter how shitty, scary, chaotic, unknown, exciting, wonderful, magical, or devastating. We need to learn all we can from what is happening right here and right now.  We need to lift up our eyes and see the beauty all around us. We need to cultivate the vision to see the beauty, the potential to learn, to see those around us supporting us and waiting to love on us…. and we need to CHOOSE to do so.  It is a choice to view life this way. Choose wisely.

Our yoga practice teaches us all of this and more. Our yogic lifestyle offers us the chance to live from the witness space. To respond rather than react. To breathe. To be in the moment and with presence.  To honor our life and surrounding circumstance. Even when we have times where we want to sit down and quit…we need to remember THAT is a choice. Just like tapping out in asana….it is always a choice. 

What happens if we stay in it?  If we embrace and submerge ourselves in the season at hand....?

Well...

We may just discover how powerful, magical, miraculous, reselient, truly divine, and strong we actually are.

Onward and upward

Let’s go!