The way we greet ourselves every day, the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves inform our opinions. We all know how important it is to plant seeds for a daily practice of conscious thought, conscious action, conscious reaction, to notice the space between. This is where the work is to be present in each moment of each day. We see this distraction pop up all the time. Writing when thinking about dinner, making dinner while thinking about bed time, going to bed and thinking about tomorrow. As you tune into your breath and become aware of your breathing you allow yourself time to be more present, to plant the seeds for a daily practice. Your daily practice of yoga, meditation & mindfulness help you to be more present.
Cultivating a mindful life is like planting seeds, if you plant an apple seed it will grow and it will bear apples. You can’t just drop a seed in the ground and walk away. Think of the old saying ‘you reap what you sow’. To ensure your seeds grow, they must be cared for. You need to make sure the soil provides a healthy foundation for a strong tree. As all gardeners know the secret to your tree growing strong begins with the soil. Choose the right soil, dig it, feed it and then sow the seeds.
When you apply the same principles of growth to yourself know that if you practice patience you will grow in patience, if you practice acceptance you will grow in acceptance, if you practice self love you will grow in self love. You can’t just decide to be free of these worries and distraction you must commit to the process.
Integrating mindfulness in our lives, making the thousands of tiny choices that result in a disciplined and progressive practice takes effort. For example showing up for your yoga class even when tired or just pissed off with life, meditating when you wake up, or challenging how you react in an argument and calling on the breath to deal with anxiety or panic. By creating these habits on a daily basis you are building a foundation that will grow over time. Like growing your apple tree changing the pattern of the mind takes time. During this process of change you will spend some summer days when life seems wonderful and you positively glow. But like that tree you must be there for the cold winter days. So embrace the task and tend to your practice daily as you grow in conscious awareness of yourself.
To join me for class this week come along –
Tuesday 9am, Morning Flow
Wednesday 8.30pm, Yoga Nidra
Thursday 7pm, WindDown Yoga
Friday 7.15am, Rise & Shine
Saturday 10am, Nature Inspired Vinyasa Flow.
To see more detail on these classes click here.
There are drop in rates for all classes but if you would like to join me for 30 days of yoga which gives you access to all classes for a 30 day period then please click here.
I am so happy to bring you a runners Workshop with Maria McCambridge (click here to read about Maria) on Friday 26th March at 7pm. She’s an amazing lady who will talk about her life in running. How she gets the best out of her running pre and post babies. Then I will bring you through specific yoga asana. Asana for opening out the muscles we use in running as well as developing breath awareness for running. To purchase those tickets click here.