submitted by Natasha (Lalita) Scott E-RYT 500, SOYA Faculty
How can I be stressed, I’m a practitioner and teacher of yoga?
How can this be? I wondered as I left the emergency. What I thought was a heart attack was not. It was stress.
How can this be? I wondered as I couldn’t open my mouth properly for over a month due to TMJ ( stress jaw).
How can this be? As I gained weight, and developed cysts in my breasts.
I’m a yoga practitioner and I feel and carry stress.
For all you who think you need to keep it all together. This yoga practitioner is calling… bull$&#%.
It’s OK to be a yogi and to feel what’s happening in the world. We need to. If we truly want to be a part of change, we must feel this .. and it’s not nice!
When life throws a curve ball ( like a global pandemic, climate change, and massive amounts of souls suffering due to a history of horrific abuse) we are going to feel stress whether a yoga practitioner or not.
What do we do: With the stress? With the state of the world? Where do we even begin? It’s so overwhelming.
Yogi’s always start from the inside out. It’s how everything grows.
So, can we close down those senses for a moment in a compassionate way? All of those senses are bringing messages to the mind. The mind wants to protect, and fear is a form of protection. Give the mind a break.
What will it take to get “out of the mind”? How do we go beyond (not escape) the limitations of our mind and move into a heart (spirit) space?
The Freedom state of consciousness.
If I lost you…aka meditation. This state of consciousness is a connection with our spirit ( love and light) instead of our minds (fear and division).
We live in society that is completely mind structured and praised. Kindness and love doesn’t often pay well….. how strange is that?
I feel this. Perhaps you feel this:
It’s a revolutionary act to keep coming from a spirit heart space.
It’s stressful times. We will all feel these low vibrations of fear all around us. It may even manifest in our bodies. Good. Feel it. Then make the effort to change.
I vow to sit down and meditate. To remember who I truly am. I am not a job, not a name, not a title. Neti. Neti. Neti.
I AM LOVE. Freedom.
Remembering that changes everything from my heart, to my jaw, to my body, to my mind, to my perspective, and ripples on outward.
Natasha (Lalita) Scott, SOYA, E-RYT500, R-CYT, R-PYT, is the SOYA Yoga Lead Teacher Trainer for 200 hour Foundation training in Mexico, Penticton and Sorrento, BC and Long Reach, NB and the 300 hour Professional Upgrade in Penticton and in Sorrento. She owns Starlit Yoga studio in Penticton.
Holy do I ever resonate with you Lalita and your experience! This fall I experienced a bucket-full of stressful situations and plans that were broken. Despite having a collection of tools to use to help me through it all, I needed to cry. I cried for 5 days straight. The breathing practices I normally use on a day-to-day were put on a shelf, my japa meditation practice fizzled away..I sat, held my Mala beads and cried. Cried a seriously “fugly” cry. I didn’t hide from my kids, they saw it all. We sat together without saying much. I needed to reach that point, to feel, to experience what I needed to do to climb back up. Giving myself permission to cry until I had no more tears left allowed for deep release, letting go and to make space for what I truly needed. I know I need to move my body everybody, mindfully, to sit with my thoughts as they float on past, to bring awareness to my breath, my superpower. I have my daughter repeat to herself at bedtime “I’ve got this!”. I yell it out here for all to hear “I’ve got this!” no matter how ugly or beautiful it is in the moment. Thank you Lalita for sharing and keeping it real!