KonaYoga.com

Someday

"Someday is not a day of the week."
~Somebody

 

A few of my classes have already seen the last class-day of the month and restorative poses were the order of the day. I've also been choosing journalling exercises and examples for my Keeping Tabs workshop this Saturday and when this one called for entering a relaxed state of mind and deep breathing, it tasted like a perfect pairing.

 

While the class relaxed into  Supta Baddha Konasana, I read the following  instructions from Journal to the Self, by Kathleen Adams:

Take a moment to become comfortable in your body.
Relax. . .close your eyes. . .
and take a slow, deep breath. . .
hold it. . .and release it.
Do it again. . .
and again. . . .
And as you breathe deeply and relax,
imagine that there is a calendar before you. . .
and you are looking at today's date.
Now imagine that this calendar is for the next year. . .
12 months. . .
52 weeks. . .
365 days from now. . .
And in your imagination,
begin to turn the pages forward. . .
until you reach today's date once again.

It is one year from today.

And now begin to place yourself  in space and time

one year from today. . .

Begin to imagine yourself as you are one year from now.

You are one year older. . .

And as you review the year just past

you can stop to take note. . .

of the journey traveled.

You can recall the most enjoyable parts of the year. . .

the lessons you learned.

And as you review the year just past. . .

you notice how you are today.

where you live. . .

how you live. . .

the work you do. . .

the opportunities ahead. . .

the parts of your life that make it joyful. . .

Stay there for as long as you like. . .

When you are ready. . .

Open your eyes.

take a deep breath,

and date your page one year from today.

 

Write a sentence or two, or a list of things you saw in your future, just 365 days away.

 

This felt like a light and breezy game since we're straddling mid-year and not yet thinking about another list of resolutions. Also, while we're in a relaxed mental state and resting in a nurturing position, we tend to desire more of the same.  Calling for the future from this location made a world of difference. When you have some space and time, try it.

 

One person who anticipates a year of care-giving, saw herself enjoying the process and now looks forward to the next twelve months as she tends to an aging parent.  Another woman saw  her life in the next 12 months as remaining in status quo, except that in every way possible, things will be better. Yet another, saw her stack of insurmountable actions, things that have been waiting  to take place someday.  But while envisioning a clean and clear calendar, she began to realize that someday might just be one of the next 365.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: ELZR- Info Design Challenge

I Write, Therefore I am

The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it.
-Benjamin Disraeli

I'm offering a journal writing workshop entitled KEEPING TABS on August 2nd and this illustration by one of my favorite artists, Julie Paschkis, is on the brochure. It depicts my enchantment with scribbling and the light hearted, super-powered life I've scripted. I have written for and to myself for most of my life and have a collection of journal books, black and white composition tablets and spiral notebooks to support a bookworm colony.

Writing on a computer, much less publishing what I write on-line, is a very recent practice. My left hand has led hundreds of pens over thousands of blank pages, in long-hand, for a long time.

My mother has kept diaries and journals for as long as I can remember and I have memories of visiting with her father, his journal written in Japanese, resting on his lap as he greeted us from his bed. My maternal grandmother, Haru Matsuda, also kept a journal and wrote poems that have found their way into books by Buddhist authors. So I may quite well have a journal gene spiraling within me.

Psychologist James Pennebaker's research has revealed that people who write about their issues and concerns experience higher levels of immunity and life functions. Professionals who had been laid off from work and instructed to write their deepest thoughts and feelings about unemployment, were much more likely to find employment than those in the study who were told to simply write about their day and those who did no writing at all.

More than just a spot to pour out gripes and grievances, my journals were the crumbs that I followed my way into the future. Twenty-two years ago I wrote: "To sit and spend time moaning & groaning about the negatives is a waste! I need to concentrate on affirmations and things positive." When my writing voice changed, my speech changed. It has made all the difference in the world.

I recently responded to a friend's questions: "How similar is your life now to how you imagined it ten years ago? Twenty years ago?" I commented on her blog: I thought I would have a whole lot more. But never did I dream that I would be this happy! The "whole lot more" that I refer to are just peripheral visions. My focus has always been to seek balance and joy and it thrills me to see that my wishes of old are here today and spilling over into my future, as it is written.

Illustration: Julie Paschkis

The Faces and Phases of Kona Yoga

This appeared in Monday's newsletter, to see it in a slightly larger format go to: http://animoto.com/play/ehf0dGKwuVP151OyPVRwSg

If you like this, you'll love using your own photos and music. Do it all on Animoto.com. I'm making more as soon as I can take more photos, so SMILE!

I See Things...

If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get.
-Frank A. Clark

I had another (!) birthday last week Thursday and coincidentally (?) had an appointment with my optometrist the same day. Although it didn't sound like an exciting way to spend my birthday, the fact that my eyesight had improved yet again, made me very happy. Two years ago, the eye-doc wasn't impressed, "It happens at your age", he said, "and eventually you'll get cataracts." This year I guess the degree of improvement was a little surprising because he said, "You can see that? Congratulations!"

I still read well (and a lot) without any corrective lens but may "have difficulty removing a splinter". Pffffft. I'm not worried about splinters. I like the fact that my eyes are going along with my general yoga thought patterns: every year since beginning yoga, my body improves in some way and I have more strength and mobility than I did in my 30's! I've witnessed it, I believe it, and that's the story I tell.

I've been referring mostly to my musculo-skeletal system, but I guess the rest of my body has picked up on it too. What do you say and believe about your body as it ages? How is it responding? It takes more than positive affirmations for something to materialize, it helps to feel it and to believe it. That's why appreciating even the smallest improvement pays off and talking about what works in your body, and in your life, is so much more beneficial than reciting a litany of complaints. It's the difference between living till the end and dying in the end.

My friendly eye-doc said, "Well, I guess you're maturing," and I finished his statement even before it became a sentence: "...and I see things clearly now."

Photo: ianqui

Groundhog Day Review: 7/7

You are walking into the future of whatever you do with your mind. So, where is your mind?
-Abraham-Hicks

It's another Groundhog Day check- in, being the seventh of July or 7/7 and I feel as though I've made it to the summit. The top, of one of many mountains.

In my May review, I was learning to read between the signs posted along the way: "This Way to Contentment" and "This Way with Contentment" and I realized that the second path meant that I had already arrived at the first. The second pathway also promised to be a lot more enjoyable so I decided that I wanted to find Contentment right where I stood.

I got back into the habit of writing my morning pages, and made it a point to reach heart coherence at least three times a day with my emWave device. I've been using these tools sporadically for a few years so it wasn't difficult at all to add them into my life on a daily basis. As a wise teacher once told me, "Where the mind goes, it grows" and I've been finding contentment in nearly every step I take.

At the beginning of the year, I wanted to commit to two practices that would make me healthier and stronger. I would be happy as long as I was healthy and strong. One could choose a number of conditions, actions or material items aside from "healthy and strong", as prerequisites to being happy. The desire to feel good, I believe, is the common denominator and our single intention to be happy is the way we control our future numerator.

When I come to a fork in the road, I will always be reminded of Yogi Berra saying "take it!", but I will always choose to go with contentment. "Why go if you're already there?" you might ask. Because that's the game of life! The object is to get to the top of as many mountains as possible and the winner is the one who's happy playing the game, not because they climbed the most mountains!

Photo: Real Life at NCCTK