The start of a fresh year always encourages a sense of
reflection and of goal setting for the future. Sadly, many people lose sight of
their goals, they become frustrated with the time and patience needed to enact
a change, and resolutions get washed out of our lives the way the holiday
decorations are thrown by the curbside.
This month I, along with my wonderful students at ShambhalaYoga and Dance, Brooklyn, and Earth Yoga, NYC, are working on reinforcing the
changes we wish to encourage into our lives, and approaching change in a more
methodical and practical way.
Early January started with the simple intention of changing
something physical on our mats. Simply remembering and reinforcing, that
change, in fact, can be small and simple.
The little changes; re-firming a back foot in Warrior I,
smoothing breath in Half Pigeon Pose, calming the mind in Camel pose, really
can make the most dramatic differences. The challenge of changing an
established pattern (Sankalpa) can be overwhelming, until we realize that the
whole-scale change or goal we are striving for, does not have to happen
overnight. If we take a step back to acknowledge how long the current Sankalpa
has taken to embed itself, we must allow ourselves equally as long, if not
longer, to gently change that behaviour and pattern. Compassion is key.
Our second week focused on changing our mindset to difficult
pose. Throughout our practice there always will be asana that we loathe. The
places that for physical, mental or emotional reasons make us feel so out of
our depth and we fight them at every turn.
The Yoga Journal broke down 7 easy steps to turn around this
mindset in this great article.
My personal favourite step here is the idea of being open and playful with ourselves : “Cultivate playfulness. Bringing curiosity, lightness, and self-acceptance into your practice can have a huge impact. Just as Baron Baptiste did with Garudasana, make peace with the poses that frustrate you rather than fighting to master them.”As we learn to take ourselves less seriously, we learn to back off and experience the journey. In this space the true changes start to take place.
If we can start to change the voices in our head that tell
us we cannot, should not, will not, than we can start to change everything.
Those are our toughest demons to face.
Once we find some comfort with changing a physical pose, and
our beliefs about a physical pose, we can begin to chip a little deeper under
the surface.
This week we will look at how to change a personal belief.
How do we define ourselves by what we have been telling ourselves over the
years? Why do we hang so much of our ‘personality’ on the beliefs we have held?
Can we feel empowered to make change that is so deeply tied
to our identity and self-worth? Can we understand that what has gone before
does not matter, we are not bound by our history; rather, we form our own
future.
Finally we will explore how we acknowledge and accept the changes
that are happening in our lives that feel out of our control. Seeing change,
whether it is instigated by ourselves or not, can always bring positive growth
and progress.
If you want to make a change in your life, start by asking yourself the following:
- What do I want to change?
- Be clear, concise and reasonable
- Why do I want to make this change?
- What is your true motivation? Be honest. Is your motivation strong enough to help you when things are difficult and your patience is wearing thin?
- Where am I today?
- Really look at your current state. Ask a friend for their honest opinion. Understanding how far you have to go will help you to build real expectations and mini-goals along the way.
- Am I tied to the goal?
- As we change, everything about us changes, physically, mentally and emotionally. Our goal may no longer be appropriate, are we okay letting go of that destination and enjoying the journey? Can we relax into the knowledge that just working toward something helps us grow and progress and that is enough?
Most importantly, know that the process has already begun. In
simply thinking about and setting your intention to make a change, you have set
the change in motion. Relax in that knowledge. It’s all already happening.
