Self Hugs

I woke up this morning to cold rain outside and an absolutely empty desire to get out of my amazing bed. (My mother checked in on me this morning to make sure I slept ok, to which I answered, of course I did, my bed is freaking amazing. Seriously, if you are facing a big life change, step one, invest in a kickass mattress and good sheets... it will save your life.) But I did get out of bed, only because of the children, completely committed to the fact that I could get right back into bed after I got them on the bus. However, I had registered for a 9:30 am Vinyasa class last night before going to bed which was my strong side predicting my weak side would want to crawl into bed and wallow. I got my ass out of bed, I made the kids eat and dress and brush their teeth. I got them on the bus. I talked to my mom. I went to yoga. It was raining. It was very important to go. If you are not doing yoga on a regular basis, you need to be. Right this moment. Seriously, even if you are at work, get off your butt right now put your hands on your desk, push your body weight into your hands and release all over your negative energy down your back and out into the space behind you. Pull all the ick of this Monday out and away from you. That is the beauty of yoga and flexibility.  It does not matter if you can't touch your toes, or if you don't own a single item of clothing with "stretch" in it's title. Flexibility is the foundation of health and you probably don't even know it. Exercises that increase our basic flexibility not only increase the blood supply to muscle tissues but also to your entire body, which allows essential nutrients to be delivered through your blood stream. This means that by increasing our flexibility we can strengthen our basic body function, by more efficiently absorbing nutrients. Which gives us energy, aids in weight management and helps battle depression.  Yoga adds all the benefits of flexibility and quiets your mind at the same time. It can teach us to breathe, which believe it or not most of us forget to do through out the day. Seriously, how often do you forget to breathe in a day? I bet it is more than you realize. That is one thing I will never fully understand about us humans, how are there not more of us fainting regularly though out the day. Seriously, with how stressed out we all are and the breathe holding we do, you think we would be falling out around each other like flies. I know at this juncture of my life the most important thing for me to do is to breathe. And Love. Love. Love. Today I just want to remember to breathe, yoga and love. I am currently using Melody Beattie's  companion meditation workbook and journal to her book "The Language of Letting Go".  It is a daily reflection journal where you read her encouraging passage for the day and then record your feelings. I had not heard of Melody Beattie before bringing my yoga practice back into the studio this month. BeachBee Studio closes their practices with the reading of passages from "Journey to the Heart: Daily Meditations on the Path to Freeing your Soul". This was the meditation for today: Nov 17th:

"Sometimes it is hard to trust life with all its sudden twists, turns and storms.

When something unexpected or painful happens, when we become blocked 

or frustrated, when life takes a different course then we hoped it would, it's easy 

to stop trusting the flow of our lives. I didn't ask for this. It's not fair. 

I don't want this, we think.

Keep loving yourself, and taking care of yourself, no matter what- through the storms,

the twists, the turns and the blocks. Take a moment to breathe deep, restore yourself to 

that scared place of self-love and self-responsibility. Feel all your feelings. Then let them go.

Love yourself until you can hear your heart and what it tells you to do."

I know that moving my physical body is the key to healing my emotional core. If I stay in bed all day I will rot. My mind will rot, my heart will rot and my teeth will rot, because I have to get into the bathroom to brush them. Yoga is the crutch I can lean on to love myself. As long as I can love myself I know it will be ok. Namaste pretty much translates to: "My inner awesome gives an epic high five to the inner awesome in you" and who doesn't need a little bit more of that in their life? I know I do.

P.S.
Mom, do some yoga today.

"L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
You've got more than money and sense, my friend
You've got heart and you go in your own way
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
What you don't have now will come back again
You've got heart and you go in your own way"

- L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N, NOAH AND THE WHALE