Life Begins at the End of our Comfort Zone

I was in the back of the class, it was early in the morning (way earlier than I typically like to get up) and Kathleen was subbing for the Saturday morning flow class. As I entered downward facing dog she said "if you haven't been here for a while, this may be uncomfortable, just stay with it and give yourself time." Those were the words I was longing to hear as my body was experiencing the results of sitting in a chair all day the day before. It's a good thing enlightenment isn't at all related to my hamstrings.

The holidays can be a time where we feel a bit uncomfortable. Maybe we are uncomfortable around our families, maybe we are uncomfortable because we aren't around our families. Maybe it's the crazy amount of food we are eating, or the crazy amount of money we might be spending. It seems like this time of year could be where we demonstrate everything we have learned about ourselves in the past year on our yoga mat. On our mats, we are learning to stay with our breath, to keep an open heart, to live from our hearts, to honor our differences (on the mat this might be honoring my body is different than your body; or honoring my body today is different than my body yesterday), to cultivate compassion towards ourselves and others and to stay connected to some presence bigger than ourselves.

Sometimes, life during the holidays doesn't seem as comfortable as all that. Maybe we have just gotten in the habit of living in a routine that doesn't match what we are learning on our mats. It can be uncomfortable to enter into new positions, whether that is a yoga pose or how we interact with people in our lives. The holiday season is really the perfect time to practice. Jack Kornfield said in this month's edition of Tricycle "if you think you are enlightened, go spend a week with your family."

Our twelve year old niece wears a necklace that says "life begins at the end of our comfort zone." I think she is right. Do you know where your comfort zone ends?


This holiday season, let's all look for a place in our life where we can break an old habit, a habit that might be comfortable and yet not-so-skillful. Let's step out of our comfort zone and allow our life to begin again.

Cheers,
Ami

Yoga & the Courage to Live

I was recently at the bar (yep, yogis go to the bar sometimes) with Vince and some of his collegues. We were enjoying some lively conversation and watching one of the World Series games (GO YANKEES!). I happened to be seated next to a wonderful woman named Holly. Holly had just finished teaching one of her classes where she was showing a video about Carl Rogers. Holly was describing the video and how there was a moment in the video where Mr. Rogers (not the one with the cardigan) said "It takes courage to live".

As I thought about this more I came up with about a million ways it takes courage to live our day to day lives. For me, this includes the fact that somedays it takes courage for me to get on my yoga mat.

Life is messy and it's complicated and sometimes we don't give ourselves enough credit for just doing the best we can. We don't honor that it takes courage to get up in the morning and face that our health has taken a turn for the worse. It takes courage to face the deep pain that comes with the death of someone we love or the loss of a relationship that we cherished. It takes courage to be present with our own disappointment when we have acted in a way that wasn't so kind or in a way that doesn't match the image we hold of ourselves. Somedays it takes courage to get out of bed, feed the cat, dress our kids and get to work.

I have noticed over the past month I have experienced such a wide variety of emotions on my yoga mat that if I described them all I might be sent away to a padded room. I have been traveling for my day job lately (1500 miles in october not to put too fine a point on it) and I always always take my mat. Sometimes I don't use it, but I always take it. It's my "Linus" blanket. So, early in October, I was at a conference and I woke early enough to spend time practicing before the crazy pace of the day began. I wasn't aware of how completely sad and anxious I was feeling until I notieced the tears dripping on my mat in down dog. This is what I mean about it taking courage to get on the mat. It takes courage to be with our own pain, or our own anxiety. It doesn't always feel good to stand at the front of the sticky mat and feel all of the discomfort, whether it's the tightness in our hamstrings or the metaphorical pain around our hearts. What I noticed after a tearful practice that morning in the hotel is that I was able to be with myself compassionately. I was able to shower, make a healthy choice for breakfast and stand in front of lots of people and complete a presentation. I believe being present that morning with my achey insides, gave me an opportunity to honor that sometimes it takes courage to live.

(the pic is of my friend stephanie's very sweet baby boy...he was looking like i sometimes feel)