Home Sick with the Flu

Last week I practiced on Monday.  After practice I didn’t feel right. One of the many benefits of practicing yoga is the increased level of sensitivity you develop with your body. I skipped Tuesday but practiced Wednesday.  After Wednesday’s practice I really didn’t feel right. 

 

As I said in my last blog, I decided to rest up for the three workshops I had to lead last weekend.  Unfortunately, late Friday it hit me. By Saturday morning I had all the typical flu symptoms, along with a high fever. Needless to say, all three workshops had to be cancelled.

 

Today is Tuesday.  I feel like the worst is over, but I have been cautioned to continue to take it easy or else the symptoms will come back and I’ll be sick all over again.  With only four practices left and the Challenge ending this Sunday, I’m not sure what is going to happen. I want to finish the challenge but I don't want to be a hammer-head and wind up back in bed for a week. I can only take it day by day at this point. Back to bed.

 

Day 51

Today is day 51.  I haven’t written in six days.  I have only practiced twice in the last six days because I have been under the weather.  I am up to 41 practices and have only four more to go until the challenge is completed.

 

I’m often asked, “Should I practice when I’m sick?”  For me, it has been an experiment of trial and error – sometimes it brings the sickness on with its full wrath – other times it knocks the sickness out of me.

 

This weekend I have to lead three workshops. I will need a lot of energy, so I have chosen to do some light asana practice throughout the week, conserving my energy for teaching. Depending on how I feel tomorrow I might take class in the morning. For now I am going to go rest and shut the computer down.

Inspired on Friday February 15th

So the flow is now inspiring! Today is day 45 and I completed my 39th practice this morning. I intended to practice six times this week, but yesterday my life off the mat didn’t cooperate. So this week I will practice four times and next week I’ll get a little closer to completing the challenge.

 

I am feeling strong in body and clear in mind. Tonight we have a teachers gathering.  All the teachers get together to practice and I'll share my vision of Empowered Yoga. The dedication of our teachers and their commitment always humbles me.  When building a business, you work very closely with people.  This ongoing process has taught me that the sum of the parts is always greater than the parts itself. When people come together for a common goal and support one another amazing things can happen. I have truly learned I am only as good as the people around me. Fortunately, I’m surrounded by some great people.

Uninspired On Tuesday, February 12th

I have been feeling flat since Monday. I’ve felt flat since yesterday.  Today I told Sara how I felt and she told me to “snap out of it” as only she can.  I am lucky to have her as my wife.

 

We all experience ebbs and flows in life. Some mornings you wake up feeling great and some mornings you just want to stay in bed. The idea is to start seeing the constant flowing nature of life. When you truly embody this flow you begin to see that even though you are the flow –you are not. You can see the feelings and the thoughts. There is a dimension of awareness where you can become pretty comical about it. Learning to laugh at yourself can be better than taking yourself so seriously. Instead of saying I am feeling flat you can start saying that there are some flat feelings happening within me. I train myself to look at the feelings as “interesting”. This kind of awareness helps me in not identifying so much with the day to day emotions and thoughts because I know they are short lived. I will feel differently in 5 minutes, one hour, tomorrow morning and on and on. It is the permanent nature of living in an impermanent world.  

Asleep at the Wheel

It's Sunday morning and I am filling in at our Plexus Nemours Center. This is not my normal Sunday morning routine. Normally I am home playing with the kids and hanging out with Sara. I spent the morning grading papers for our Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) program. Part of our curriculum involves homework where the participants share their insights. We have an amazing group of students this year in our YTT. I thoroughly enjoyed reading their thoughts and revelations. Sometimes I wonder who the teacher really is.

 

I have noticed that many people experience a special feeling along the yoga path called perpetual awakening.  This feeling comes with consistent practice of yoga and meditation. I too experience this awakening.  From time to time I feel like I have been asleep at the wheel while navigating through my life.  Suddenly I’ll awaken with a jolt of adrenaline - my arms stiffen up and my eyes become twice their normal size. It is this "Holy Shit Experience". I then settle back into my life with a new found sense of alertness.  Have you ever dozed off at the wheel?

 

The experience of awakening was a common theme in the YTT papers I graded. They’ve begun to understand their minds and their lives with a greater sense of clarity. It is through this experience that we gain greater insight into the life we are living and things we have attracted into our lives thus far. 

 

We are energetic beings living in an energetic world. This is not “New Age Philosophy.” Quantum physics teaches that we are constantly sending energy into our environment through our thoughts and actions.  We then attract the same energy we send out.  When we are unconscious to our thoughts and actions many times we unskillfully create our future. As we become more aware of our energy we can better co-create our future. By thinking something over and over again we have to power to manifest that. This is a VERY powerful concept incredibly described in Dr. David R. Hawkins’ "Power vs. Force”.

 

Today is day 41 of the yoga challenge. I practiced four times this week which gives me a total of 36 practices. This week Jimmy is at his Dads so I am hoping to get in six practices. Namaste.

 
 

Brought to you by processed food

I am so fortunate that my wife Sara cooks healthy food for our family. Sara’s cooking makes a huge difference not only on my waist line but also in the way I feel. Sunday I thought it would be okay to eat soft pretzels, pizza, cheese, soda, etc. I know you can eat anything in moderation, but unfortunately that’s not what I did.  Right before the game I started to feel heavy and lethargic from eating white flour.  So I did what anyone would do—I ate more crappy food.

 

Monday morning I took Nancy’s 90 minute SS class.  By dancers pose I could feel the junk coming out of my body. My breathing was short. I felt weak and nauseous. I had been feeling so good while doing this yoga challenge until Monday morning when I experienced the negative effects of food. I didn’t even drink any beer! This feeling was completely induced via eating processed food. We truly are what we eat, drink and think. We are constantly recreating ourselves moment by moment. While in Costa Rica I ate so clean.  Pura Vida doesn’t serve any processed food and they use no refined flour. By the end of my second week I was really feeling the effects of clean eating and yoga. I am a big believer in moderation and enjoy some processed food yet Sunday I lost moderation and felt the effects of it.

 

Today is day 35. I took off Saturday and Sunday so today was my 32nd practice. I am getting ready to teach two classes and I am feeling pretty good after my butt whipping this morning. Thank God for yoga and its ability to offer us a fresh start.  

 

Broken Record

I have observed through the years that there is a crucial point in one's yoga practice. I wish I could say this point is loud and clear within our attention leading to a conscious decision – yet for many it is not. Our choices in life are many times driven by our past conditioning, which when confronted with uncomfortable moments can leave us rather helpless in the moment. We respond the way we always did. The present moment becomes nothing more than a repeat performance of the past. Our reactions grow stronger with repetition and we become unconscious to them.

This may sound depressing, and yet it is the truth for many of us. We see obstacles in life as things that hold us back verses opportunities to grow and begin bridging the gap between the life we are living and the life we yearn for.

Journaling can be a very awakening experience because we can go back and see that the same things that are paining us today are the very same things that have been inflicting pain for years. This realization that our minds are like broken records can be the very "slap in the face" that wakes us up! 

The broken record can be challenging to stop. I have found that if I bring present moment awareness to the intense reaction and watch it as an observer instead of identifying with the reaction that the intensity wanes quickly and disappears. There is a sense of peace and accomplishment once the feeling wanes. The second time the reaction comes back you follow the same instruction and something magical happens – the reaction subsides more quickly. After the second time you will begin to see the reaction for what it is – painful conditioning. Then lifting the pin off the broken record becomes easier.

Intention

Intention deals with the present moment. It is the deepest root of why we do what we do. Our future can be traced back to moment by moment decisions and/or choices. The choices we make moment by moment paint the landscape of our future. By connecting to our intentions we can begin to orchestrate our future. We experience stimulus and then we respond. Between these two there can be a space—a conscious choice.

 

The practice of yoga and meditation can expand the space between stimulus and response. This space can allow us to see clearly our intention behind our response. We can catch ourselves in the process of inappropriate action and change our destiny. Moment by moment awareness and acting from right intention can lead to a more fulfilling and happier life—a life which we cause less harm to ourselves and to the world we live.

 

Today is day 31. I practiced this morning for the 29th time. My body is feeling pretty awesome, but what I’m enjoying even more is my clarity of thought.