View From My Mat

Recently I went to Jamaica for a 3 day holiday, while there I got up early and did yoga on the beach in the quiet of the morning.

I was surprised though to discover something about myself that really quite shocked me,  I realized I was doing the safe poses, the ones I did well and the ones that were easy for me. I became aware that over the last little while, I was only ever doing the safe poses, I wasn't growing in my physical practice. This surprised me because I always consider myself a courageous person but truly I have been complacent. You may think so what  does this have to do with anything important ?  I have found that the more courageous I am in my practice the more courage I demonstrate in my life in general.

Later that same day I was sitting quietly on the beach just staring across the water, and became aware that  my life is way too safe, in that, I am not taking any chances, I have entered a comfortable place and am clinging to it. I have put some of my ideas and dreams on hold fearing the necessary effort and perhaps chaos that may occur in making these changes.. I realized over the last year I have lacked courage in so many areas, courage to speak my mind or to make changes necessary to make me happy.

I love yoga for the insights it gives to me, awareness is always the first step, now I know this about myself I can begin to change it. Living blindly not knowing who and what you are is a private hell on it's own.

As some of you know my husband has stage 3 cancer, a very aggressive type,  we now head into the battle against this cancer strong and courageous. We believe that we can beat cancer and have already begun the necessary steps, for us this means we refuse to be afraid of cancer we will not let fear creep into our thinking, we will take the necessary steps to fight it and in times of doubt turn to our faith to restore our courage.

The time alone in Jamaica was amazing.  It so easy to just keep going on the hamster wheel of life but time alone is so important to our spiritual growth. Time away from the noise of cellphones, work and life in general.