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Occasionally I share a story from my personal practice + teaching! SUBSCRIBE to receive email updates right here.
My Love/Hate Relationship with Yoga Poses
I have a love/hate relationship with the physical practice of yoga.
I have a love / hate relationship with the physical practice of yoga.
When I started practicing yoga 25 years ago, I fell in love with the way powerful, graceful movements could weave with the breath of the body to honor the Divine.
That’s when I knew I wanted to teach yoga!
But when I started teacher training, I found myself practicing these challenging “pinnacle poses” of yoga (the ones that made you a so-called “master” of the practice) - and ending practice feeling worse than before.
Headstand was my greatest challenge!
I would wake up every morning, drag my mat to the wall, and attempt this pose - most of the time, to no avail.
But even after I “mastered” this pose, it never felt right in my body.
I ignored that, because I thought self-mastery was necessary to become the best yoga teacher possible.
Now, I know and teach otherwise! Because one of the main “commandments” of yoga is AHIMSA.
Ahimsa is the practice of living every moment with love and reverence for all things.
That’s a fairly easy practice for me as a teacher, with my students - but it’s always been more challenging (and often ignored) in my own practice.
The good news is, I’ve now learned to listen to my own body, to soften into my own practice v push through it.
And now when I step off the mat, I feel fulfilled by my practice, invigorated with new energy, and balanced.
Here’s the lesson: Yoga is so much more than mastering an individual pose.
It’s actually about realizing deep reverence and respect for the bodies we inhabit, the ones that bring us to the mat (whether we can do headstand or not!)
Love to you,
Kathie
What Imbalance in the Body says about Inner Conflict
My husband and I sometimes travel to an island in the Caribbean called Saint Martin (it’s our intention to vacation there whenever possible!)
My husband and I sometimes travel to an island in the Caribbean called Saint Martin (it’s our intention to vacation there whenever possible!)
And in 2017 this beloved island was hit hard by Hurricane Irma.
Even so, last December we decided to visit, hoping that much of the area had recovered - but we found out that, while the hotels and resorts had officially opened, much of the native population wasn’t provided the resources needed to rebuild.
This resulted in a week-long uprising on the French side of the island (where we stay).
Our 30-minute drive to the hotel turned into three hours of witnessing (and waiting for) protests in the streets - followed by the realization that our vacation would look much different than planned!
It felt prickly to witness all this, on vacation.
And yet, the invitation was there - could I sit with this discomfort, inside the contemplation of, “Why am I on vacation in the middle of an uprising? What meaning might this hold for me?”
Contemplation rarely provides an immediate answer. Instead, it’s the practice of simmering with the question, watching it evolve, and listening for the answer(s).
First I realized, there was a Revolution happening inside my own body (at the same time I was witnessing this one in Saint Martin).
I arrived with a knee injury that made it hard to move around - much like the protests prohibited our movement on the island - which led me to ask the question, “If there’s an imbalance in my knee (the part of my body that requires flexibility for mobility) that’s causing an ‘uprising’ in my body, what’s my inner conflict?”
The conflict was between my Outer world and my Inner world.
My Outer world was filled with demands that put other people first and neglected my own needs. My Inner world was asking me to slow down and move toward my Soul Work in this world.
This was an invitation for me to connect more fully (and more often) with my Self first, through contemplative meditation and intentional practice with Nature (which I teach about right here).
NOTE - the awareness of all this took time, and the changes that had to happen next have taken time, too.
For more than three months I inquired about my next steps, and finally I realized: I will say ‘yes’ to what I want and ‘no’ to what I’m supposed to do.
Here’s the beautiful part: In saying ‘yes’ to myself, the pain in my knee went away almost immediately…
Of course, my knee pain comes back on occasion. But now I witness my knee as the teacher who guides me back to balance.
Love, Kathie
How To See Possibility In The Void
One of my favorite wisdom teachings of yoga is that - at the crossroads of life, we have the opportunity to choose…
We can choose despair, unworthiness, and judgment. Or we can choose joy, possibility, and faith.
(Listen, or read below!)
One of my favorite wisdom teachings of yoga is that - at the crossroads of life, we have the opportunity to choose…
We can choose despair, unworthiness, and judgment. Or we can choose joy, possibility, and faith.
Here’s an example: Last year, one of my dear friends (and an incredible yoga teacher!) asked me to co-facilitate a silent yoga retreat with her.
And I found myself at a crossroads…
The part of myself that’s deeply familiar with “unworthiness” said, “YOU CAN’T! What do you know about creating a silent retreat?”
But right next door, I heard this whisper of possibility that said, “SAY YES!”
I followed that whisper, and we created a wildly successful silent retreat together! In fact, it was so successful, we decided to host the same retreat this year…
Until she called and said, “Kathie, I can’t do it this year. Can you do it without me?”
And here I was at another crossroads… I could choose judgement, self-doubt, and despair. Or, I could choose to be present in the void of possibility.
And here’s what I know: There is POSSIBILITY in the void!
I could cancel the event, I could host it alone, I could find another partner, etc. The point is, I had options.
Now - staying in the void was painful, because I had to feel my visceral fear and deep sadness. But here’s what I know…
If you stay in the void long enough, the possibilities show up!
I quickly knew exactly who I wanted to work with (shoutout to Laurie Gyurko!) - and since we partnered together, our creative flow has aligned in ways I can barely explain.
There’s this magnetic vibration that’s supporting our work together.
Here’s my lesson for you: Yoga tells us that we have a CHOICE at every crossroads:
We can lean into what’s familiar. (For many of us, what’s familiar is self-doubt, unworthiness, sadness, anger, and total collapse.)
Or we can lean into what’s unfamiliar and be PRESENT in the void. And this is where soul-aligned possibilities show up!
What happens when you follow your heart is, TRUTH reigns. And with that comes JOY.
Until next time, Kathie