Yoga stretches and life’s pleasures, in the obvious sense, are a piece of cake:
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Welcoming guests to the yoga hiking & chanting retreat
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Teaching yoga in Soglio Switzerland – or anywhere, really
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Singing in the magic of a Naked Voice singing field amongst dear ones
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Receiving or giving a Thai yoga massage in pristine mountain air
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Walking in silent meditation in the beauty of the Swiss Italian Alps
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Swimming in waterfall fed swimming holes
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Shopping in local Italian and Swiss morning markets
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Savoring the delicious tastes of the region
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Sharing in laughter, joy and Fun with the expanded circle
The challenge for me, is to discover pleasure from a source that triggers a feeling of dread, frustration and impatience.
So, this week’s intention is to substitute and replace the way I feel while working at the computer with the way I feel when engaging in a genuine life pleasure. (This is an acting technique I learned while studying in New York City. The character is stricken with grief and, to source the grief, the actor taps into a time in which he or she experienced loss.)
To have time spent at the computer as part of my yoga practice, to replace negative emotions with gratitude and, to not only enjoy but actually look forward to – could add years and enhance quality of life.
Is it worthwhile analyzing why I have so much resistance to the entire computer process? Better to settle in on my intention and:
Take a few deep breaths
Give thanks for the Source of the breath
Relax my neck, shoulders and face muscles
Sing a ditty of whatever comes out and
Emails….Twitters…..Facebook…
I’m already tense and ready for a tea break and – the geranium has a new bright red bloom…BREATHE — tap back in, relax and be present to enjoy each task at hand. But, but, it’s not my – Jody, get back into the flow. Breathing in and breathing out – feel the joy. Somehow at the bottom of this is a LESSON. Is it possible to think of this time as selfless service, or, karma yoga? Hmmmmmm.
To relax, settle in, rid the body of tension, and be present. It’s a piece of cake in the yoga class. Nothing to it when chatting with a friend. Total bliss in the beauty of Soglio Switzerland.
Time at the computer? That’s my current yoga stretch. What’s yours?
Dear Jody
Hmmm……. What is my current yoga stretch. I must say that my current yoga stretch is reading Blogs’. Yeah definitely reading Blogs.
I totally agree Jody it feels like a selfless service, or hmmm is it karma yoga? Hmmmmmm… I wonder? Just reading words, words, words. All words; what does it all mean so many words in so little space………………so constricted within ……………….such an unpleasant feeling………………………………………….…. and than I come across the words:
“Take a few deep breaths
Give thanks for the Source of the breath
Relax my neck, shoulders and face muscles
Sing a ditty of whatever comes out …….. “
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm…………….Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa……………Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa……………I feel a spaciousness returning as I give thanks to the Source. My mind wonders to a wonderful poem the great Welsh poet Stewart Warner recited to me in January; “the Stillpoint”. http://www.intothestillpoint.co.uk
“Words”
Words and the music in the words
And if not words than silence, and music in the silence
In the silence breath and music in the breath
Between each breath a space and music in the space
With in the space awareness and music in awareness
In a stillpoint a calling and a listening
each word,
each breath,
each step we choose upon a path………………………………” Stewart Warner
Yeah………I listen……………I breath …………………Yeah…….… I am hearing the music again as I read the words…………… I feel the spaciousness. A joyfulness returns as my center returns. With awareness as I read the words in front of me; a pleasure and a delight enters my being. I listen to the silence between the words…………… listening for the music…..yeah………….
Hmmmmmm…………………maybe it’s not an act of selfless service……….. I wonder if it’s actually a selfish one? Finding pleasure………..listening for the music in everything I do. With awareness I can listen to the music in every task I do! Wow………… than everything becomes a joy ……………than the world really is my Oyster………..Wow. Thank you, thank you Jody for asking me what my yoga stretch is, thank you for this wonderful exploration and insights.
With gratitude and love,
Karl