Beloved Reader!
Thank you for giving your time to read this newsletter. You are oh so deeply appreciated!
Since starting my “year of resting deeply” in January, I have added yoga nidra (conscious divine sleep) to my daily practice. It continues to prove itself as an effective medicine as well as a sensitive diagnostic tool. It raises hidden tensions in body and mind to consciousness, and it gifts me with healing rest. ( If you missed it last month, you can experience a short nidra here.)
As a teacher and therapist, I find it very refreshing to follow a good guided visualization led by someone else. It feels wonderful to step out of the driver’s seat; to allow and to receive.
Learning to rest like a champion is a journey. It takes practice. It flows in its own timing, and each stage reveals the next step. My current step is “what can I subtract?”. Simply adding more things can all too quickly become yet another stressor, no matter how beneficial each element is.
We live in a world of chronic doing and acquiring. I am not immune to this… It may seem ironic that teaching yoga could be stressful, but being self-employed has its challenges as well as its joys. Years of split shifts, working every weekend, and saying yes to challenging projects set the tone of two decades of my career. I met fabulous people (like you!), honed my skills…. and tired myself out. My schedule now is more gentle and spacious, which is wonderful. And with this softening, all those stored nervous system tensions can finally come out of hiding. They can finally be released…. and it is a process, step by step.
The good news is that there is magic and medicine all around us. Always. All we need to do is slow down, look and listen. Spring is a particularly beautiful and inspiring time. Inner and outer renewal can blossom hand in hand. Life is light and it is fresh.
Yoga nidra has given me a gift of slowing down. In this slowing down, I am able to let go of a bit more rushing and striving. In the space created, I notice synchronicities around me. There seem to be more of them… but I think that’s because I’m not not hurrying past them with blinkers on. I believe that synchronicity is the universe saying “yes” to us. "Yes, and here’s another piece of the puzzle to help you keep moving towards liberation."
Some of you already know that I have a passion for studying Polish. I like to discover unique methods of language acquisition, and YouTube has brought me an unexpected gift this week. Ted Talks in Polish!!!!! An endless supply of 15 minute gems on every possible topic, a goldmine. And imagine this…. the very first one that popped into my feed was exactly what I needed to hear. The topic: minimalism and letting go. The speaker began her journey by simplifying her material possessions, only to discover that this was just the tip of the iceberg. Let me share her three revelations. They will be my project over this coming month, perhaps they will inspire you too.
Let go of perfectionism.
Being the best you can be is a fallacy when it keeps you pushing yourself constantly to do more. Striving to be the best at everything is exhausting and it is a heavy burden. (Lol, I am applying this to my newsletter this month. I am allotting myself 2 hours for writing, instead of one or two days. You can let me know how I do!)
Let go of pleasing everyone.
Cultivate time with people and activities that nourish you, and say no to obligations that do not. I will never forget the cancer thriver/survivor who told me that one of the best gifts that cancer gave her, was permission to decline invitations that she really did not want to fulfil. Once in remission, she continued to follow this rule. Bold!
Cultivate self-acceptance.
Cancel, clear, delete any feeling of not being enough… of being an imposter… of thinking that life will be awesome once I have ___________ ( fill in: lost the weight, become famous, had my nose done, found the right life-partner, mastered handstands…etc.) It is simply not true. IT IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE! You are a miracle, you are life itself expressing itself through you.
And won’t life feel so much lighter and freer once we have shaken off some of these unnecessary burdens? A worthy challenge. I’m going to give it a try.
As always, sending Love and Blessings to you! Here's wishing us all a joyous spring. May our hearts be light and free.
~ Karusia Nirmala
|
