I started this Fire term feeling the best I have in ages. After my first proper break in running the studio (12 years!) I took 10 days away and didn’t take my laptop with me for the first time. Sounds crazy right! But running a business is no joke. It can really take its toll on your health, your relationships and on your heart. Apart from becoming a mum, running a business is the biggest personal development exercise you can go through.The highs are mighty but the lows are bloody low! Thank goodness for my yoga practice as it has been the thing that has kept me going through it all. My trusty companion since my early twenties, it’s always been there, no matter what.
I definitely don’t get the balance right all the time but I am getting better and this year it’s really starting to take. I have less pain, I have more energy, I’m sleeping better, I am happier than I have been in a long time. I’ve shared before that at the end of last year, I was pretty burnt out after some massive personal and family challenges. I’m still not there yet but my goodness I am so much better. This is why I developed the Elements Program for the year and it’s working! I feel constantly inspired in my teaching and I have had the most incredible feedback from our members about how much stronger and committed to regular practice they are.
“I started the Fire term ready to bring it! I was literally on FIRE! Then I got Covid! I have managed to dodge it up until now and then down I went. 2 weeks of extreme fatigue and brain fog was rough. I felt like crap. It took about another 2 weeks to get my motivation back and now I am feeling pretty good again. What did I do?
- I stopped and rested. I prioritised sleep and cancelled as much as I could.
- I moved when I could. Gentle yoga postures whenever I had the energy – even in the middle of the night if I couldn’t sleep I was cat/cowing
- I read the Fire Guidebook to remind myself of what I am focusing on this term.
- I leaned on my pranayama practice and regenerated my energy.
- I watch reality Tv. haha!
Despite the break I am not letting it derail my intention. I wanted to feel stronger, lighter and happier. I wanted to feel proud of myself for putting my wellness at the top of my list. I wanted our members to feel strong and inspired and happy. I absolutely love helping people in their yoga practice so that their lives are better and they feel more at home in their bodies. Nothing makes me happier and is the reason I do what I do.
Yoga is the stilling of the field of the mind. The field of the mind is neutral in its natural state. Whatever we put into that field will grow and magnify. This is why the mind is powerful and this is why we have way more choice than we give ourselves credit for. With a simple change of attitude, we have the power to change our world. I am not wasting energy on things that don’t propel me forward but also taking some time each day to pause and remember how far I have come.
The fire program has been about side bends, low lunges, extra push-ups and side arm balances which have felt great in my body. Simple but really effective. Ever since having Elsie I have had lower back pain and I have been working hard on getting this sorted. Chronic pain is frustrating, ever-evolving, heart breaking and complicated. The powerful fire sequence I have been practising and teaching has made a big difference and I am going into Term 3 with more space in my rib cage, a strong upper body (thanks to all the extra push ups lol) more mobility and less pain in my back and a joy in my practice that gets me excited to get on my mat each day.
Next term we move to the Water element which is not where I am comfortable at ALL! Earth and Fire are my jam. Water and going with the flow are going to be a real challenge for me but I am keen to see how it goes. Like I say before Mysore classes: “Let’s just get on our mats and see what happens” I like to have a plan and then stick to it. I am not great with change although the universe keeps serving it up to me in massive all you can eat platters! Letting go and going with the flow is not easy for me however my physical practice (asana and pranayama) helps me to release these things I am holding onto from my body; journaling, reading sacred texts and talking with trusted friends and family helps me to process them and meditation helps to let them go (hardest part!).
I’ve been reading a beautiful translation of the Bhagavad Gita by Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor these past few weeks and I wanted to share a few sentences that have helped me. I had a little aha moment
Richard and Mary write: “Insight will not occur without reaching a point of surrendering to the paradoxical truth that you cannot understand life is delightfully incomprehensible. When you finally give in, you realise that, instead of striving to understand, you must trust, and then, in trusting, you allow concepts and theories of mind to dissolve. It is only then, that suddenly you will understand and be able to rest happily in the paradox of knowledge nested in the radiant background of not knowing. Learning to flourish, while not knowing, no matter how uncomfortable it may be, is essential to truly knowing and ultimately to freedom”
Mic-drop moment. What a sense of relief I felt when I read this! I do not and cannot understand everything. We work on being our best self (taking refuge in the yamas and niyamas) and then trust that we will never fully understand everything, and we can relax in the not knowing.
So my work this term is to act and behave from a place of steadiness (developed in the earth term) clarity (developed in the fire term) and then let go of what I think the outcome will be knowing that (according to the Bhagavad Gita) no work on this path is ever wasted.
After all, from discipline comes freedom. Let’s get on our mats and just see what happens?
Allison x
