Balance in an unbalanced world
Hello dear yoga ladies and gents!
I’ve been feeling a build-up to one of my rambles for a while; you’ve been lucky to have been spared for quite some time now! As I’ve said before, I’m not going to force it if I feel I have nothing to say (-:
But I’ve been pondering the idea of imbalance and feeling unsettled. Both for personal and obvious international reasons, it’s been an upsetting few weeks. And were we even over the chaos and mental disorder of Covid before Putin decided to rock the boat some more? I’m guessing no. In fact for me the effects and challenges of the changes Covid has made to my life are really only making themselves more deeply known now.
So, is there anything we can do to calm ourselves and cope with the overwhelm, uncertainty and helplessness when everything seems unbalanced and/or out of our control? As I hope you’ll know, I hate being trite or implying that it’s really easy to fix everything through yoga, but YES, there is always SOMETHING we can do, even as we accept that it won’t necessarily be easy or a cure-all.
I had a pretty stressful time recently when visiting my parents. And I imagine we can ALL appreciate that nothing sets us off or presses our buttons more than family! The idea of just ‘doing a few stretches’ to negate the tension and psychological stresses of a difficult family situation might seem laughable. BUT, ‘a few stretches’ is not yoga!
To save my sanity, I put on my shoes and coat and got out of the house. I breathed deeply, looked up at the sky, observed the sights, smells, sounds and sensations around me. I felt my feet pressing into the earth. I closed my eyes, felt my legs supporting me and put my hands on my body to feel the breath coming in, going out. And only that. I’m here, it’s ok, this body is breathing.
THAT is yoga to me. And it does help, whether it’s a personal situation or whether we’re distressed and feeling useless regarding world events. Centre-ing ourselves, pausing to go within, noticing (and not judging) the breath, whether we’re standing on a busy train, outside our house for a 5 minute break, or moving on a yoga mat, I believe this can help us find a steadiness we can then count on to assist in dealing with the unbalanced external world.
We’re going to play with this idea of imbalance and feeling unsteady in classes over the next week or so. Can we be more ok with wobbling, uneven weight distribution, working with and/or accepting our bodies’ weaker and more dominant sides? Weirdly, it can be a great way to both watch the mind and our reactions, but also to get out of our heads, over analysis and ego control.
I hope you’ll join me?
In-person class:
TUESDAY 12PM - Crouch End, London - email me asap if you’re interested in this one (-:
Online live classes:
WEDNESDAY 7.30pm - Mid week meditation and wind down
SATURDAY 10am - Wake up your weekend!
Sign up here: www.antidoteyogawithsue.uk