Your goal can lead to unexpected gains

The year 2017 is comming to an end. It is the time to look back and reflect on all that has happened. The Yogamooc course The Science and Practice of Yoga is also coming to an end and these are my final reflections on the course.

6 weeks has pasted already. When thinking of what I’ve learned, it feels like my brain is overloaded and it is hard to find words. I turn to my notes for help. My notes are inspiring reading and I smile as if I was looking at holiday photos being reminded of good times abroad with friends and family.

We have covered subjects such as the basics of yoga incl. asanas, pranayama, history and benefits. We have covered mindfulness and well-being. The science of yoga has been covered in numerous lectures. And we have learned to blog, create memes and inspirational posters ect.

Some things have of cause made a greater impression on me than others. I thougt it would have been a scientific study that would leave me amazed, but it is the personal transformation that has made the greatest impression.

My approach to this course has been somewhat more relaxed than other courses I’ve participated in. I’ve combined a relaxed and open-minded attitude with discipline and that has worked out well for me. All deadlines were kept and with a minimum of stress while keeping to my usual obligations in life. I would start the week by getting an overview of the course content, clarify the must-do’s and the nice-to-do’s. I would do the must-do’s before the nice-to-do’s, each nice-to-do done being a bonus. I would also set a fixed amount of time off for the course so that I wouldn’t stress over other things undone.

The practices and assignments from this course have turned out to be more than just practices and assignments. Through the practices and assignments, I have gained a greater awareness of myself and my surroundings. Sometimes I am scared I might be getting to sensitive, but that is when the breathing exercises come in handy. It takes a bit of practice, but you can always stop and breath in pretty much any situation before you decide how to act and keep yourself from reacting.

Through the practices and assignments, I have also implemented new good habits and I have started working on changing old bad habits for the better. I have ex. found out that doing yoga within the hour before I go to bed improves my sleep.

Now that the course has come to an end these habits and changes will truly be tested.

During this course one of our instructors talked about a yoga-paradocs which I feel suits me very well. As probably any other yogi I also use yoga to gain something. I use yoga to gain a better balance in life, greater awareness, better health, to feel better in body & soul, to still my mind, reduce stress ect. I am ambitious, some call me a perfectionist and I am driven by personal growth. I want to improve in life and in yoga as a yogi and as a teacher. But it is important to remember that yoga is not a competition – not with others and not with yourself. Yoga is not about pushing yourself. It is about stillness of the mind and about connecting with yourself and your surroundings. Please keep in mind that the practice can be transferred to your life when you are not on the mat. That is one of the things that makes yoga so powerful.

Most of all, yoga is about having fun!

To me yoga is a gift. It is not a typical western-world practice and it is much different from the sports I’ve participated in all my life, but it works. And it seems that as more and more research is done, the scientific world says the same “YOGA WORKS and YOGA HEALS”.

My goal was to have fun and pass the course. As I write this I do not know if I will pass the course, but I am so happy I decided to join the mooc-course The Science and Practice of Yoga via University Texas Arlington. It has been inspiring and a source of knowledge that has helped me grow. I’ve had fun and I am happy with my effort and what I have accomplished. Passing will just be a well earned bonus.

~Namaste and Merry Christmas to all of you 😊

 

Introducing self-compassion

Week four on the course The Science and Practice of Yoga. One term stands out for me – compassion.

When I did my yoga teacher training another term stood out for me – ahimsa.

To me these two terms seems interconnected. They have at least one thing in common; they are easily practiced towards others and much harder for me to practice towards myself.

Ahimsa means not harming or non-violence. It is one of the five Yamas we learn about in the Yoga Sutras. Yamas being external attitudes or guidelines to a conscious living.

 

Ahimsapratisthayam tatsannidhau vairatyagah

When non-violence in speech, thought and action is established, one’s aggressive nature is relinquished and others abandon hostility in one’s presence.

– Yoga sutras II.35 (trans. Iyengar)

 

I wonder why it is so challenging practicing compassion and ahimsa towards one self.

We teach our children to treat other people with respect and kindness. We expect other people to act with respect and kindness and being compassionate with one another. Why don’t we add self-compassion to the teaching? My first memory of practicing self-compassion was while – as too many other people – I received treatment for long-term stress.

The second time I was introduced to self-compassion a concept was in the sense of ahimsa being taught on my Yoga Teacher training.

One thing is knowing the terms and understanding the meaning and benefits of the practice, another thing is to live it. I clearly didn’t manage to implement it to my life. In the fall of 2016 I was once more in the need of treatment for long-term stress.

Now here is where compassion and ahimsa join as one in all its beauty. As part of my treatment for stress I joined a group of wonderful people in learning to connect with ourselves again. We would meet once a week doing guided meditations and talk about our experiences. We would learn about how stress affect the body and mind. And through meditation we would gradually learn to feel our body and mind again and we would learn to understand the sensations of our body and mind.

Reconnecting to your body and mind, being open to whatever sensations you might feel and recognizing their presence lead you to a greater awareness of yourself and of life and of your surroundings. A greater awareness improves your ability to show compassion towards yourself and others. When you show compassion you also practice ahimsa.

Meeting with the group for meditation is me living self-compassion. It is me practicing non-violence towards myself. But it is possible to set aside the concept of self-compassion and ahimsa while meditating or while doing asanas in a yoga class? Yes! It certainly is.

The practice is all about your attitude. Have you ever entered a meditation or an asana with a certain intent which was not fulfilled? Did the situation frustrate you and did you talk down to yourself while being frustrated? If yes, then you were not showing compassion and you were not practicing ahimsa, non-violence.

The practice is all about your attitude.

So what do you do? It’s actually very simple – you practice!

To me it is a life long practice. I am practicing finding a balance between joy, having fun, relaxation, ambitions, being driven by personal growth and learning, having grown up in the world of elite sport where you do not quit because it hurts.

To me practicing yoga and meditation is showing myself compassion and it is practicing ahimsa. Yoga and meditation might not be the right thing for you and it’s ok. If you are not already aware of how you can practice self-compassion then start by giving yourself a hug. It might seem silly but it feels good. If you feel like it, go give someone else a hug and enjoy all the good that comes from such a seemingly simple gesture.

Hugs from me to you 🙂

The gift of a challenge

You’ve signed up for a course. You think you know what to expect. The theme for the course is one of your greatest interests and you tend to forget about the world when you dig into the course material. So far it hasn’t been much of challenge and you are excited about all you learn, and the people you meet.

New lectures are starting and assignments has been released. You embrace it with delight and BAM! You’ve been hit and now you feel anxious, provoked and angry. You swear and complain “this assignment is stupid!”, “I don’t have the time for this sh..!” blah blah blah.

Does this sound familiar? It does, doesn’t it!

This is exactly how my week started. I was clearly in a bad state of mind feeling unhappy about the assignment.

Signing up for this course is part of my personal journey. If I decided to stay in a bad state it would be a very long week and I would risk wasting my time being angry and learning nothing and ultimately not passing the course.

I believe we all have a choice. You choose what to do and what not to do. The choice is more or less conscious but you always have a choice. A method to create more conciousness in the process of choosing is mindfulness. It is to pay attention – to be aware of your state and the situation you are in. Break your state and tune in. There are many ways to do this but on this course we have been working with the power of breath. Break your state by taking five breaths and tune in.

As I started breathing I asked myself from where this reaction, this resistance for the assignment came. And I realized that it all came down to worries and fear. I worried that it would get uncomfortable and I was afraid I would discover unpleasant things about myself. I was afraid to discover that I was doing something I know to be unfortunate and therefore failing.

Jason Vale once said that fear is just false evidence that appear real. This approach to fear resonates with me and has from the first time I heard it.

What is the worst thing that can happen if you realise you behave in a way you dislike or that might be unhealthy for you? Is the knowledge going to kill you? Probably not. Will the knowledge make you a bad person? No! Your actions might, but having the knowledge doesn’t change who you are. It is your actions that define you and the knowledge you gain is a gift that can help you make wise decisions in life.

FEAR = False Evidence that Appear Real

Knowing that fear is false evidence that appear real and knowing that doing the assignment will give me knowledge that can help me be better and do better, made it a fairly easy choice to put aside the worries and fear, and jump into it head first.

I decided to laugh whenever a ridiculous situation would occur. And I decided on a structured approach to the assignment which would help me visualize my progress and by that create a sensation of joy for each completed part of the assignment.

During the past week I have created my first meme and though it was a bit frustrating, I managed to have fun. I think the meme says it all…

I have challenged myself and set aside my worries and fears. I have allowed myself to observe my own behavior and gained new knowledge about myself. This new knowledge helps me be more aware of how present I am when connecting with other people and in life in general. The new knowledge forces me to ask “who do I want to be and am I that person?”

My new knowledge has given me ideas on how I can help myself be who I want to be and how to do what I want to do in life.

The next time you face a challenge, notice what state you are in and recognize what is causing the state. If you are in a bad state, change it – take five breaths or move your body. Then take the necessary action to complete the challenge. Allow your common sense to guide you instead of your worries and fears.

Make a decision to be open-minded and have fun.

~Namaste

Yoga practice reveals blue diamond in trash

Once upon a time the universe – or maybe a man and a woman, or these days a fertility doctor… never mind… once upon a time a diamond was created. It was not just any diamond. It was the most beautiful and precious diamond the world had ever seen – a fair statements since all parents seems to say so about their kids 😉 But in this case it was true. The diamond was so shiny and clear with a tender blue glow to it.  Anyone who saw the diamond would say “if I only had a diamond like that I would take good care of it. I would never let any harm come to it. I would make sure it always had the best conditions to thrive and live a wonderful diamond-life”.

As in life or in any other fairytale the main character will sooner or later have to face challenges and enemies. It is no different for our precious blue diamond. One day the diamond woke up to an awful smell and the noise from shrill voices. It was dark and the diamond couldn’t to see where it was. The diamond listened harder and sometimes the shrill voices would be accompanied by a flop flop flop… the sound of wings. “Birds! The diamond said to itself. It must be birds!” Just as the diamond started to tune in to its surroundings it became more aware. An awareness that would open its mind and help the diamond tune in on sensations within itself. And as this happened something high above the diamond lifted and a warm bright ray of sunlight shone in. Now the diamond realized from where the awful smell came. “Oh my, I’m stuck in a trash can” the diamond said as it realized where it was.

The diamond still looking up, saw that it was birds it had heard. Three seagulls digging into the trash all busy discussing what they’ve found and fighting over the same piece.

How did the diamond end up in the trash? Who would be crazy enough to do that? How is the diamond going to get out of the trash and will it ever be the same beautiful, blue, shiny and clean diamond again?

And what does this story have to do with yoga?

I would like to invite you to play pretend for a few minutes. Imagine you are the diamond.

You go about living your fasted paced life. You work or study and try to stay updated and not miss out on anything by clinging to social media and other information channels 24/7. You sit still most of the day, you eat bad food, maybe you smoke, or drink and you never allow your brain to take a break from the input of information and light coming from the computer, tablet or phone. Even the tv is on while you’re checking e-mails on one of your other devices. You know it is important to get a good night sleep, but due to the overload you’ve put on your senses and your brain, you can’t sleep. With every minute you become more and more frustrated. You feel drained when you wake up, you are irritated due to lack of sleep. It’s difficult to stay focused and you fill your body with too much caffeine in a desperate attempt to feel more energized throughout the day. You might even go as far, as to tell yourself you’re not good enough. And so it continues in a bad spiral. You are alive but you are not living life. Do you recognize it?

Is it all bad? No! No! and no! Modern life and technology offers so many opportunities. I honestly think we are lucky to live in a time like this. But it is bad for us when we lose touch with us selves. When we isolate us selves and when we are no longer aware of the state of our mind and body. That is when you wake up covered in trash and don’t know how you got there. Believe me, I’ve been there – more than once. I was swimming and playing in the trash as if it was a ball pit at McDonald’s.

I’ve experienced and lived it so I dare say that I’m a living proof it’s possible clean up, reconnect and LIVE life instead of just being alive. I am by far the only one. And here is where yoga play an important role. At least to me.

Yoga is my life line

It is my cleanser and my inner guide in life.

The yoga philosophy helps me rethink my approach to life. The techniques found in the yoga practices – ex. postures and breathing exercises – help me to connect with my mind and body, and to connect my mind and body. Yoga helps me reconnect with myself in stressful times. To me yoga is a path to a life lived in balance with good physical and mental health, constant personal growth (one of my key drivers in life) and hard work and good experiences, in a busy world. It is not a religion to me, but a way of life.

I am sure I will get the chance to elaborate a lot more on the elements of yoga as the course The science and Practice of Yoga unfolds in the coming weeks.

Now, try this. Take three deep breaths. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth – slowly let it all out. As you do this take your time to notice the sensations that occur when you allow your mind and body to relax a little. Give yourself the gift of staying with the sensations just for a few moments before you head on out into the busy world.

Namaste!

(The Diamond in the Trash story is inspired by Deborah Adele, author of Yamas & Niyamas)

Set out on a journey with me…

I am excited to start on yet another journey and I am inviting you to take part in the adventure with me.

So where am I going this time you may ask. I’m going nowhere.

Who will I meet? Hopefully many people from every corner of the world.

What do I expect to learn and experience? I don’t know. My plan is to keep an open mind and allow for anything to happen.

You may wonder how I can set out on a journey without leaving home. Well that’s easy. I am setting out on a spiritual journey. It has got nothing to do with religion. But it has got everything to do with learning, reflecting and allowing myself to be inspired.

I hope to be inspired from the people I meet and from my learning and reflecting on the science and pratise of yoga.  And I hope that you will find some inspiration by reading my posts on this blog.

I have decided to join the course The Science and Practice of Yoga offered by the University of Texas at Arlington & the Free Life People™ School of Yoga. Part of my assignment is to share my reflections on this blog.  So that’s what I’ll do for the next 6 weeks.

If you take an interest in yoga or if you’re simply just curious about what reflections and thougts I will share while doing this course, feel free to follow my blog – or even better, sign up for the course yourself and let’s share our experiences.

~ Karina Flindt