Change is ever present

Yes change is inevitable and always present. I was never that great with change I freely admit it. I resisted it, compromised to side step it, held on tight to the known to avoid it. Which in the end I know in my head that I can't. I did my level best however. The last two years have been all about change for me, most of it I would categorize as not fun or anything I willingly would have done. I am now squarely looking at more change but this time coming with some hard learned lessons and wisdom.

I am about to close a chapter in life after 14 years. A chapter that I have mixed feelings about. I know it is the right time and on the one hand I feel freedom like I have never felt before, on the other hand I feel sadness and a deep sense of loss. I know that home is not really a place but more a sense of something deeper inside but place is where we sleep, where we keep our things that give us comfort and that space that tethers us to a place in time and space. Moving from a home where I raised my daughter, created a family with someone and had a way of life that I have so many memories both good and not so is bittersweet.

I dread thinking about having to clean out 14 years of stuff in this house, it's a lot of stuff. On the other side of that I feel that I can truly release some of what holds me back by simplifying, getting smaller and passing on what I no longer truly need or want. This will create BIG space for me to fill with all sorts of brand new things, new beginnings as my realtor reminded me. I have lived on my Island for 24 years and love the rhythm of life here, the beach, the water, the people and the pace. I can get to the city if I choose to do whatever I want but have the place to return to that truly replenishes and restores me. As I move into a space where I am putting myself further out into the world than I ever thought I would that feeling of having the place to return to restore and replenish is so very important. Not sure yet just where I will go, for the time being it will be here on the Island and from there I will wait to see what next adventure presents itself to me.

I was speaking with my friend Anthony and he said why don't you move into the city and my response was well I don't know anyone here. He paused and said well you have all my friends that are now your friends. Anthony has a huge heart, I love that about him. At that point he just opened my world a little bigger than it was. My life is pretty set here on the Island but that could change and it is so wonderful to know that I can let go of the feeling that moving to the city would be going where I know no one. I know that I could meet new people with time but for me personally I am all about feeling connected and thanks to Anthony I am connected in the city now too.

As I think about all of this change and the spaces it has opened and the lightness it has brought along the way, I think about my yoga as well. How through all of the change in the last two years and this big change I am in now I have my mat and my practice. Yoga is all about change as well. We start out new not knowing much and delve deeper with time, learning about breath, motion, our bodies. Your body changes every single day, balance changes, open spaces change and just physically things change. Taking that to the mat as a student of yoga you learn to explore gently and with great care how to move with how your body presents itself in any given moment. Sometimes with more awareness than others and sometimes with very small incremental changes and sometimes big leaps forward. In the last two years my mat has been ever present, my yoga, there in good times and in bad. Many times it was yoga that helped me to heal, mend and repair my body, mind and spirit. As I teach my students to think about what small change they could make in any pose to find more ease, my personal practice has brought that firmly off the mat. Sometimes with great resistance on my part but with a knowing that as I can't force my body to go into a pose I also can't force myself into a space I am not ready for either. All of this and so much more has brought new awareness as I teach my yoga students. I feel that I teach from a deeper place than ever before and have so much more compassion.

So as you approach your yoga practice or your life remember that change is and will always be there. Sometimes scary, sometimes exciting and though you may wish to resist moving into a new space in your life, know that with time, gentleness and compassion you can expand and move through to a brand new space. Just as your body can expand and move through asanas on your yoga mat, you can expand your life. Listen to your heart and your body just as you do when practicing yoga and they will guide you on your journey.

I hope that any change that you are now experiencing will flow through you as smoothly as possible. Remember that even when you are in the midst of change and it doesn't seem so, you will come out the other side knowing more than you did going in. You have the control to experience it with curiosity rather than fear and resistance and ask yourself along the way, what am I needing to learn here. You just might be pleasantly surprised what the answers are.

Namaste,
Sherry

Yoga of life

Yoga has so many aspects besides what happens every time we get on our mat. I tell my students that yoga is many times about small, incremental changes and openings in your body. Those changes and openings move with us off the mat as we move out into the wider spaces of our lives. It is a pleasure and a joy to see the changes that happen with my students. Many I only see as they enter or leave class aside from the time we spend together working on asana's during our class time.

I have seen students stand taller, move easier and with more confidence. After class I have seen happy, smiling faces and lightness. I have so much appreciation for the fact that they trust me to take them on the journey on the mat and I have had many speak to me about how much yoga has influenced their lives outside of the mat. This is why I teach, I love to help people with yoga. I feel strongly that yoga has something to offer everyone and that there is a style of yoga and teacher out there for everyone. My students inspire me to keep learning and growing as an instructor, to bring the knowledge to them and to learn from the wisdom that they bring to me. I do my best to be sure that everyone who attends my classes can be successful and walks away feeling good about their experience whether they are new to yoga or long time practitioners.

My demographic is mid life people, many of those haven't always taken good care of themselves as they care for their families and do their jobs. Several of my students are 60 and older and they want to stay flexible and moving with as much ease as possible. Some people think of yoga as a young person's practice or that you have to be thin as a pencil and flexible as a rubber band. My demographic is for the most part neither of those and frankly neither am I. It isn't just about women either, I have several men who practice with me regularly.

What I know is that for me personally I have attained so many wonderful benefits from yoga that I will practice for the rest of my life and hopefully teach for many more years to come. Yoga has been there during good and hard times and even times when body was in pain. It has supported me during times of illness and accident. My dharma has become clearer to me especially in the last year and I know that I am meant to help people with yoga. That is my truth, my path and purpose. Teaching brings my heart light out to shine.

I would ask that as you read this that you think about what your dharma might be, your path and purpose, what makes your heart light shine outward from the deepest part of your heart. Take some time, sit or lie comfortably, allow your eyes to close and relax your breath down into your body. Let your breath flow, deeply and easily, relax the space between your brows, let your eyes relax down into the socket. Relax your jaw, letting your tongue drop down into the bottom of your mouth, soften both sides all the way back to the top of your throat. Take your time and really let your breath flow, let the shoulders slide down your spine and then feel your weight relax down into your sit bones, feeling rooted and grounded. Now relax your focus down into your heart center, letting your heart open wide with your breath. Relax into the deepest part of your heart, where the true essence of who you are resides. Rest there with your breath and let whatever is your hearts deepest desire for you in this moment float up. Now slowly imagine what it looks like, feels like, smells like, tastes like. Who else is there with you? Relax deeper into that space, don't worry about how to get there, just be there in the moment, already manifested. Now think about what is one thing that you can do in the next 24 hours that could help you move towards your hearts deepest desire for you. Breathe that in deeply. Sit with it for a few breaths and then bring your palms to meet at your heart, on an exhale release your head forward surrendering to the wisdom deep in your heart. When you are ready slowly let the head rise and the eyes gently float open.

Namaste,

Sherry

It's almost April 15th, are your taxes done?

I must admit, mine, not so much..... I figure if I am having a sense of procrastination, stress and anxiety around tax time then there must be many out there that feel that same series of feelings as well. On the one hand I know I have until tomorrow to get them finished and postmarked so I am not too worried yet about completing them. Mine are pretty straight forward, I owe so why should I give up my money any sooner than I have too. In these times of economic strain and stress we all want to hold on to our money, that over riding sense of not enough takes over and we grasp and clench with all our might....

Looking on the other side, does grasping and clenching really help with all of that? In teaching I guide people to use their breath, open their hearts and release anything they may be holding on to a little too tightly. When we hold on, clench or grip with our hearts things get stuck there and tend to hang around for much longer than we need them to. Being creatures of habit we expect that if we have a so called "safe space" to grasp that everything will be ok. Habits also come into play with our bodies as well. We move into spaces that body is familiar with and can get to without much thought, not always are these spaces the best place for our body to move into but habit takes over. You get an injury, have an accident, sleep wrong on your pillow and your body makes subtle adjustments to allow you to move, alleviate some of the pain and before you know it your body goes there automatically every time, whether you are still injured or not. Everything subtly shifts and we move through days not paying attention to just how we move our bodies and what may still be painful below the surface. Eventually your body will begin shouting at you to get you to pay attention. Hopefullly at this point in time you are really serious about finding out what you need to do to care for yourself and provide relief, true, lasting relief.

Fear and worry can push us to clench and hold on, to move into a habitual "safe space". It can also paralyze you from taking any action or cause procrastination just to create some "relief". Fear and worry have never solved any problem that I have been deep in the middle of and that sense of being paralyzed is no safe space to be. Fear and worry also then move deep into the body, shoulders creep up toward your ears and feel like there are boulders residing in them. Your neck starts to ache, you may experience head aches and all of that continues down your spine. Your spine is such a huge highway for everything in your body. Nerves travel up and down your spinal column, your ribs are attached, your organs connect, your heart is supported. Oh your spine, that aching back that we only think about when we are in PAIN. Anxiety can cause the body to hold onto your stress and guess where it loves to hang out, you got it your spine, radiating in all directions. At that point I turn to the mat, even if it is just to spend some time breathing, deeply, slowly and fully. Feeling my sit bones rooting down into the earth, letting my shoulders slowly relax down my spine, relax my face and jaw. It is amazing what a few minutes of slow and concentrated breathing will do for your body, your mind and your spirit.

So before you sit down to work on your taxes or write that check before dropping your completed taxes in the mail take a few minutes to do some deep breathing, let go of fear and worry and anxiety, let your heart open a little further and release it all as you release that envelope addressed to the federal government into the mail box or mail slot. To help with that I have done some "Tax Relief Yoga" for you. The short version if you are in a hurry:

Seated in cross legged pose, allow your eyes to close, draw your breath down into your belly, slowly moving into a full three part breath filling your belly, solar plexus and then expanding through the lungs and chest.

You can continue to keep your eyes closed or open them and taking your hands to your knees breath into spinal rolls. As you inhale reach your heart forward, gently arching the low back. Exhaling, tuck the tail under and round the spine letting the shoulders round forward slightly. Continue that movement with your breath for at least 5 breaths. This will help loosen up your spine, get the breath flowing, relax the shoulders.

Take an inhale and come back to center. With your next inhale lift tall through the spine and exhaling rotate to the right, letting your head look over your shoulder. The rotation coming from deep in your belly. Hold for 5 breaths, inhaling moving back to center and exhaling rotating over to the left. Inhaling moving back to center. Twists are wonderful for the body some of the benefits include: tension release from the neck all the way down to the tail bone. Twists also effectively stretch the deepest layer of the spinal muscles, those that are the smallest and rest closest to your spinal column. Twisting also helps dissipate frustration, anxiety and/or fear that can be closely connected to tightness and tension in the spine.

From seated moving to hands and knees, bring your toes to touch and open the knees a little to allow room for the abdomen to relax and release as you move forward bringing the forehead down to the floor. Relax your belly, broaden your sacrum and relax your breath into the back side of your body. Bring your arms back, letting the palms rotate to face up, resting the fore arms on the floor. Relax here for 30 seconds up to 3 minutes. When you are ready to come out of the pose, brings your palms forward to press down into the floor and pressing all the way up to hands and knees again. Move to seated, close your eyes for 5 breaths and then get up slowly. Child's pose gently stretches the hips, thighs and ankles. It calms the brain and helps relieve stress and fatigue.

Don't forget to put those taxes in the mail!

Namaste,

Sherry