It’s been an interesting month as we (Yoga in Cheshire) have moved out of our studio and back to a more mobile existence. It has been interesting on many levels. I love what I do but as Eliza Doolittle puts it ‘what’s wrong with being a nobody?’
As she says the whole world is trying to be somebody and kicking themselves for what they are not…..
Not me
I am going to enjoy where I am for a change! Ambition…yes I have it. However mine is to be still more often, to enjoy the quiet in my mind & have time to meditate without worrying about where I have to be afterward. Time to nurture my soul rather than stress my body.
Yoga in Cheshire Blog
Find out all the latest news and views from Tabitha and the other practitioners at Yoga in Cheshire.
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Yoga in Cheshire learns to balance
Yoga teaches us that we need balance. Both movement & pause. As my Thai Yoga Massage teacher often says….’it is the pause where the magic happens’.So pause but don’t get stuck, move forward but look around and enjoy where you are as well as focusing on where you are going. Yoga isn’t just about flexibility or balancing on one leg….yoga is about improving your life & how you move within the world. Lately I’ve been reminded of how these changes subtly alter your perception and outlook on the world. It’s often not until you are in a situation where you need to cope with change, or stay strong in the face of adversity that you understand the inner strength & flexibility that yoga has provided you with.
Finding decisions & detoxing easier with yoga
We need to be aware of this with other behaviours. Behaviour such as nutrition and exercise can also become habit. We can consciously decide to make more conscious decisions through the day and improve our health and hence our well being.
Yoga in Cheshire reflects on the journey
practiced anywhere.
Hence there is no reason not to include reflection and meditation within your life. There is always opportunity to quieten your mind, to reflect and to focus. This allows us to widen and clear our vision, gives us the information and opportunity to change behaviours, attitudes and action and hence to broaden our opportunities. We all would say we want to appreciate life more, to see the life we are leading and to enjoy and maybe improve the scenery on the path we choose. Also the reminder that there are so many other paths available to us, although the route between paths and roads can be even tougher than getting out of deep ruts on the existing path. In my experience it is often that which we have found tough in route that provides the greatest rewards.
Reflection, for me, has re enthused my drive for positive change. I am inspired to continue my reflection but maybe with more planning. Reflecting on how certain events have shaped me and how certain people make me feel. I am hoping that this will open my eyes to making positive changes in the future. For me staying in a rut is never going to open my future potential for if you do what you’ve always done you will get what you’ve always done. Hence I will learn from my past, notice my present and open up my future.
yoga in cheshire; learns to move on with a smile
the wonderful energy of those students at our first Yogathon, in my little studio, flowing through what was for me, a physical representation of everything I had dreamed of. A place where we support each other to be able to achieve more than we can alone. A place of friendships and fun as well a yoga studio. A place where dreams do and did come true!
Lets make sure that this feeling does not change when we relocate back to less permanent premises. Just because we no longer have a place that is just for yoga, doesn’t mean that the glue that holds the community together is any less strong. I want to take all I have learnt into the year ahead, maintaining the good things and moving on from the negatives. I wish for a community that practices together & supports each other. A place where we will maintain the wonderful energy able to bring tears to my eyes.
Accepting change with yoga
So how do I feel? Yes this is not a decision that I would have taken, even though I actually feel that it is the right one in very many ways. Just for the moment while I pause to notice, to check in with myself and see how things are, it is a good place to be. I can open other doors of potential, of opportunity and see if they are also pathways that I may choose to follow. I somehow, in having choice taken away from me…have more choices open to me!! However more importantly I can enjoy my summer, my life. We have one life and I am reminding myself to live it! I didn’t choose to be a yoga teacher to have a career but to share my passion for yoga. Now I see a future where I re find the time to indulge myself in my passion.
Pausing to enjoy my yoga
So I am returning from a weekend away full of plans. However these plans aren’t plans to do, but plans to be. Plans to savour the rasa, the taste, of my wonderful life. Sometimes we are so busy doing, achieving, striving and anticipating we forget to just be. So I am reminding myself to be more mindful of savouring the moment. Of living in (& maybe for) today without continually having one foot in what could have been and another stepping into maybes and dreams!
Yoga & finding stillness
So here I am, flying off to make some time for me. Time to look at that which I love about my life, maybe see how distance from the situation changes how I feel about decisions and directions I may choose. Time to sit quietly, enjoying the stillness and space necessary to hear intuition and to be. To find the time to do less and just be more. Much as I love my world of teaching yoga in Cheshire, the business side of things involves decisions. Making decisions is often based in action. Made through thought rather than intuition. So when I am busy doing, teaching & exploring possibilities I often find the next step has been taken out of necessity, but often also without spending time in contemplating or stillness.
is it the season to rest, recuperate & enjoy all aspects of your yoga practice
Recognising that sometimes we need some down time and that is actually good for us. So enjoy this time for what it is, an annual time to reflect and to notice. To notice that when our bodies naturally slow in the darker evenings that this is fine. That we can enjoy gentler physical exercise or a change of activity rather than pushing onward with the same routine. Also recognise that just as a rest day is important in any training regime, so is relaxation time in general. Savasana, the relaxation at the end of a yoga class, is often considered the most important part. The time when your body accepts and acknowledges the benefits of the physical practice. This is an important lesson too about the seasons, maybe the winter is our natural savasana. The time when bodies need to relax a little, get more rest and recuperation ready for the longer warmer days ahead.
Moving closer to santosha
Obviously I am constantly striving to practice tapas, using this discipline and motivation to keep moving forward. However this can sometimes detract from the practice of santosha, contentment. Enjoying where you are rather than looking for where you could be.
So for me this trip has been beneficial in so many ways. Admiring the beauty of snow capped mountains, and being glad I don’t live there! Getting the chance to really appreciate what I have at home and how much my life suits me and who I am. So basically it’s done what a vacation should do, taken me to beautiful places, allowed me to spend quality time with family and friends, and allowed me to really appreciate the life I lead when not on holiday. So the feeling of wanting to move away was necessary to realise that actually I find my santosha at home.
