As spring finally blooms in the American Mid-West, Lisa explores how trusting and believing in the present moment can help us find contentment on and off the mat.
Lately, I’m feeling a bit anxious about the future, and this anxiety is interfering with my ability to find balance between contentment and my feelings of indolence.
In a world of multi-tasking mayhem, mother and yoga instructor Cheryl Parsons asks, have we become too busy being busy?
I bumped into a friend in Starbucks recently and together we lamented over our endless chore list. “Yes, I am just sooooo busy these days,” I cried as we swapped ‘life is too hectic’ tales across our open laptops. Both of us were trying to squeeze in a flurry of emails before we powered down and headed to my yoga class. It was barely 8.15am, but we had already gotten ourselves tied up in a tizzy of ‘to dos.’
As Dubai’s temperatures continue to rise, along with the notion of cranking up the AC again, the thought of freezing climates probably seem far off the radar. For Lisa, however, that’s the reality she’s been dealing with for the past few months. While in the Middle East, Dubai yogis roll out their mats on the beach or in the park, Lisa shares her insight into what winter across in the snowy Midwest has taught her about her practice…
Spring is just around the corner. I’m sure of it. I saw a robin yesterday, and she told me so. But here in Kansas City, where I’m currently living, we’ve had a tough go of winter with big snows and near-Arctic temperatures; it snowed again just yesterday!
Countdown…39 weeks, 5 days. Only 2 days until my due date! If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know I’ve been keeping up my yoga practice, adapting it of course for my growing belly!
Before mini Parsons comes into the world, I wanted to share with you a pre-natal sun salutation that I have been using throughout my pregnancy. A big thank you to Jennifer Wolfe and her pre-natal teacher training for her inspiration and guidance.
Throughout my ‘youth’ (ok, so I’m only 31), I’ve been blessed with a peaches and cream complexion. I was one of those annoying people who could pretty much wash my face with soap and water and still stay spotless. Besides the addition of a few wrinkles, I sailed into my twenties with next to no skin problems, right up until I started growing a mini Parsons in my belly. Enter the first trimester…and cue dry skin patches, red lumps, a somewhat ghostly palour (from all my morning sickness) and a handful more wrinkles to boot.
Then one day one of my yoga students came to my rescue and handed me a little parcel, complete with a selection of samples from a funky new skincare brand called Snowberry. I wanted to break a little tradition in my blogs this week, and share with you a bit about this cute range, as I think it’s about as yogic as a skincare brand can get. It has also really helped me get my skin back on track, and into that ‘blooming’ stage of the second trimester.
If the mind were a theatre of the future, I’d have front row tickets. Heck, as a seasoned visitor, they’d give me the VIP box.
Forget the past, it’s the future I’m finding myself wrapped in…from the virtually decorated nursery to my baby’s first steps. I am not saying we should not feel free to dream about what lies ahead. But when it starts consume the majority of this moment, it can become a bit of a headache!
When it comes to the common list of the world’s top ten most stressful things, I realized that I am on my way to ticking off two of those culprits. Not only is the kidney bean in my belly now en route to becoming a large bell pepper, we are also in the process of trying to sell our home and buy a new one. Between pregnancy and houses, if you could look inside my head right now it would probably resemble the picture on the right…
For the last few weeks, I don’t think I have had a split nano second between my thoughts, let alone a full moment spent in the present. (The present? Sorry, can’t be there right now, too much to plan!) The wild horses of my mind have literally busted out of the fields and are running amuck…how the hell do I reign the beasts in?
I was teaching a Vinyasa class a while ago and building up to one of our peak poses, Bird of Paradise (check out my pregnant one pictured…probably won’t be busting that one out in a few weeks!) If you are blessed with flexible hamstrings and open shoulders then you are probably up for the challenge, otherwise this is one bird that might not even get off the ground.
So what do you do when you can’t get there? Criticise yourself? Give up? Silently curse your extra bendy neighbour? Why not take a leaf out of one of my student’s books and have a laugh trying, find your own edge, and give it your own label…in his case, Peking Duck! Despite being surrounded by females, this well-built guy is never afraid to accept where he is at in his yoga practice, and his level of Bird of Paradise, self titled Peking Duck, is the perfect example! It is also a great reminder that right we are now is right where we need to be.
