Your Own Yoga Practice

Your yoga practice is inside you.

Yoga accesses our pain and our secrets. Yoga gets us in touch with our subtle body - our emotions - so we can undo layers of conditioned thinking and get rid of patterned behaviors, to get to the core of who we are.

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Dealing with Intense Emotions

When someone emerges from a situation better, stronger, more capable, it is because they actually acknowledged themselves. They allowed the difficult and painful sensations to rise and burn. They sat in the fire and felt the swell of life rise inside them like hot coals. In doing so, they discovered new truth, which allowed them to pass through the fire and emerge a different version of themselves. Maybe they discovered they were stronger than they thought. Maybe they discovered an old way of life that no longer served them. Maybe they released a past belief that used to habitually control them.

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Endless Shavasana

Despite the minimal physical effort it takes to lay flat on my mat, eyes closed, body unmoving, Shavasana has never been an easy pose for me. I squirm and I fidget. I anticipate when we will be allowed to come out. My body is not used to laying still. My mind is not used to being languid and undramatic.

Forcing myself to stay in Shavasana requires a letting go of my conditioned need to do something, to go somewhere, and to be someone.

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Walk Forward

As we walk through the fire, stepping on hot coals and allowing some flames to even consume us along the way, we are that much closer to being shown the miracle on the other side. And remember, often walking forward means sitting still. When we don’t know what to choose, when we don’t know the next right move, when we simply can’t take anymore, this is the time to sit down. To refrain from battling, pushing and doing, and to just be. To allow the flames to burn and sear, to remove old layers and shed the past, to let the swell of grief rise up inside us, pull on our chest and pour out of our bodies as tears.

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Molly ChansonComment
Remember to Breathe

Our true Self might be fighting to come out lately, and under normal circumstances, it already battles our ego for our attention. During times of stress, when we allow ourselves to slip into fearful behavior, the ego gains even more power, and our intuition takes a back seat. So how can you tell the difference? Your ego will be worried, afraid, self-criticizing, and anxious.

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Witness Your Power

It can be helpful to take it down a notch, and relish in the small, simple things we take for granted. Notice and be grateful for the cast iron skillet that cooked your delicious meal. Tuck your body sumptuously into your soft sheets and feel your head resting on fluffy, clean pillows. Sit underneath your warm blanket and be aware that you have a safe resting spot on your couch. When we allow ourselves to feel gratitude for the everyday, simple things in our life, we raise our vibration and become more easily grateful for all things in our life - the good, and the not so good.

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You are Safe in the Stillness

It’s shocking how we can use busyness to cope with stress in our culture, which only compounds the problem. Sitting still is scary because we are forced to actually feel our emotions and notice any thoughts that arise. It is ok to put off your to-do list, your yard work, or organizing of the house. It is ok to practice the ultimate self-care and sit still. It is ok to enter the brave work of being silent and tuning in.

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Today, Surrender

When we surrender, we release the burden of needing to know all the answers. We release our grip on whether or not we are doing the right thing, because we understand there is only so much we can do. We can remain vigilant and still surrender. We can take care of ourselves, our loved ones, our health, and the health of others, in ways that make sense to us. But we don’t need to obsess over the unknown because we leave that part up to something bigger. As a world, we are being asked to humbly surrender in this moment. We are being challenged to prepare as best we can, and then wait.

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Trust Yourself. Trust Your Truth.

Unless we own our truth, admit who we are and what we need, we will always be betraying our Self. And self-betrayal leads to anxiety, depression, illness, and worse - lost identity. Not knowing who we are, and an inability to trust our own intuition, leaves us vulnerable to the whims and demands of everyone else. We become victims, because we feel we have no say.

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Tearing Myself Apart, and Coming Back Together in PLANK

Plank might be the most profound and effective pose in Yoga. Seriously! The pose has taught me so much about my body, my mind, and life itself, it’s almost crazy. Not only does Plank Pose give you the most benefit to your core, your point of strength, and yes, your defined abdominal muscles, a regular Plank practice will bring deep insight into what goes on in your mind when you’re up against a wall. Do you stay, and adjust? Do you lie down, and give up? Do you blame or yell at yourself?

Or, do you find out what you’re capable of?

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Ponderings about Presence (and truth)

The point is, we can indulge in something external for a temporary fix, but the moment will never be sustainable or long term. As long as we understand this, we can enjoy delicious food, loving relationships, and career successes, all the while knowing they are not the solution to accepting who we are. When we grab at anything outside ourselves to complete us, to fix us, or to save us, the moment will never last.

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Get Out of Your Comfort Zone and God Shows Up

There has been grace: Every time I've fallen down and had to begrudgingly and painfully pick myself up. Every time I've feared that I was making he wrong choice or that everything was all my fault. Every time I've heard people laughing at me as I walked away. Grace is when you're at the bottom and you're not sure how to get out. You know the next right move, you only need to muster the strength to put one foot in front of the other. And somehow, because of grace, you do.

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Love is Patient. Fear is Ravenous.

When I question whether I’m moving towards love or acting out of fear, I have to stop and observe my intentions as well as my body’s sensations. I take a deep breath. I find a quiet spot and 5 minutes of time. I do this often, for big decisions and for small. Our intuition feels sneakily like fear.

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Finding My Drishti

But by the end of that same class, as I lay on the floor in “Shavasana”, staring at the ceiling, smelling the musty floral scent, I envisioned all of the heartwarming moments that had unfolded here as well. Babies being baptized, surrounded by doting families. Weddings overflowing with love. Holiday services where the whole congregation sang as one. The sense of belonging that is felt so rarely these days. It all encapsulated the feeling of hope. And at that moment I realized that this church has absorbed life itself. The despair. The joy. And everything in between.

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