Excuses are what we make to make ourselves feel better when we don’t feel whole and complete.  I think at a few times in my life I became the queen of excuses.  My life was full of, not nows, I’m not ready, I can’t, I’m too tired, I’m too busy, I’m injured, I don’t have the money and so on.

Life is not our to get you!

What excuse could you possibly have to not take care of yourself today?  How much of these are true?  Truth is your body-mind-heart need and required daily care and attention in order to make your life awesome.  You don’t get there by making excuses.  After making the same excuse over time it turns into a believe, then you start living a small life instead of the big one that your were meant to.

It’s way easier to make up a reason that you truly believe is the truth, to get out of daily self-care then to actually do it.  If you keep up a daily yoga practice or something like that, you will find it’s much easier to keep it going then to stop and start again.  So why do so many people, stop trying, give up and make excuses for themselves?  The answer is very personal to you!

My excuses always come up for me when I’m overwhelmed or haven’t taken time for my practice or exercise.  Turns out my excuses are easy to identify since I tend to use the same ones over and over again.  If you are aware of when you are making up an excuse you can shift your behaviour because you are conscious of when it’s happening.  If you don’t ever own up then it’s likely you will continue to make excuses and not take care of yourself.

Being busy, well excuse me, but it’s and excuse!  I sympathize, I get really busy too but there are always things you can cut out of your life that are taking up your precious time like watching T.V or social media.  Things add up quickly and that 20 minutes could have been a time for you to do yoga, go for a bike ride, run or something that would get your body moving.

Frankly I’m sick!  I’m sick of posers, yoga posers.  Sure you can be super skilled at asana but you can still be an ass the moment your off your mat!  After the massive shift in Anusara, I’m convinced that for many people yoga is simply an act.  After all yoga is a practice that helps you to live in this world in a skillful way and most importantly how to be truly happy.  Mastering a yoga pose can certainly make your ego happy but is it making an impact on your unhealthy habits, or your negative small talk?

If you want more from the time you spend on your mat than this is what I believe the key is ~ your intention, your devotion, your dedication, your courage, your steadfastness, your compassion, your higher Self, your connection to others, your ability to see how you affect the world around you and your willingness to let go, surrender, un-yoga (attach) yourself.

Walking the yoga talk is a big deal.  Once you awaken your sleepy consciousness you will start to see everything around you differently.  Yoga when practiced skillfully makes your more sensitive, more psyshic if you will.  You’ll notice when your words hurt someone immediately, or the vibration of a swear, how you feel if you eat like shit, lets be honest when you are a serious yogi you are aware of almost everything, to an annoyance I might add.

I’ve meet several people who are yoga teachers (some have taken a weekend course, geesh!) that smoke, cheat, lie, steal, eat animals, etc etc and I have to wonder what part of this ancient linage they are connecting to?  We yoke (yoga) ourselves to what we think we can handle, sometimes the bare minimum, like a version that has very little resemblance to Ahimsa- non-violence!  The very first step according to the great yoga masters, non-harming ourselves, other people or animals.

If you don’t want to give up your lifestyle than it’s easy enough to skip that first yama and maybe you will have more sucess at another one.  The point is yoga is an incredible way of living but sacrifices need to made, you may have to let go of some of the things that you so desperately cling to. you may have to change your diet or the people you hang out with.  Yoga takes a lot of effort!  It take more effort than showing up for a class 3 times a week, it take a good, long hard look in the mirror at yourself and the person you see staring back at you.

No offence but my Pitta is fired up 

Blessings and transformation,

Mindy

Last weekend I spent 4 days climbing rocks at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky.

Getting out of the city and into nature for the day has a way of putting what’s important and what’s not into perspective.  I’m not new to climbing, I’ve been hanging off rocks for over 20 years but every time I go climbing I have to face some form of fear to get to the bliss.

Climbing is certainly a high risk activity (thank you Outdoor Rec @ Lakehead University for teaching me that), but part of the risk can be controlled by having safe equipment, a solid climbing partner and double checking everything.  The risks that are out of your control are well….. her…. Mother Nature!

When someone leads up the climb, they can stay calm and relaxed even when they are falling or stuck or on the other hand they can freak, get super angry, kick/punch the rock (so silly cuz it will always hurt you more), or simply give up and come down.  It’s a powerful environment to bring out the worst or best in you.

One of the trippest parts of climbing for me is at the top of the climb, either clipping into the anchors at the top or cleaning off the gear at top and rapping down.  Your usually up there all alone and a mistake up there can be bad, really bad.  It does happen!  So, ya, yoga…. of course.  Breathing helps tremendously when you start loosing your shit up there.  It’s one of the few things to calm you down, a calm partner helps too but getting out of the head game is such a yoga thing.

It’s a great way to watch how the mind can sabotage you at any moment.  You can start off with confidence and then it’s eaten away by the fear/doubt/anger/ego monster.  This is where putting things into perspective is beneficial.  You can pause, breathe, look around at where you are, what you’re doing, what you’re freakin over, and then you move on.  I’d say that’s yoga in action and it has absolutely nothing to do with downward dog pose.

This past weekend I witnessed the incredible beauty of the Strawberry Full moon!  It lit up the campground with its milky bright light so much you didn’t even need a headlamp.  Staring up the moon and stars always teaches me that what I think is so huge, so insane, so profound is really a tiny speak in my life experience.  The passing clouds teach me that the light is there it just gets hidden sometimes but it’s never ever really gone.

Life lessons from the rock,

Mindy