From mat moment to your whole life

When we step onto our mats, settle the body, we begin to tune into it. How it rests, or not, what parts of it hold to the mat beneath it. Can I allow myself to be held without holding myself? Can I acknowledge the depth and texture of my breath and begin to ask for a deepening more enriching one, without judgment? Pause. Observe. Feel. Connect to my mind, my feelings and my body to the very present moment. Can I just be here? Our mat, our rectangle of rest, hope and reminder to moment. A moment of awareness, ushers in space for awe and wonder to take a seat. The just-about-very-present-moment class is over, connection backseats to our schedules of appointments, to do lists and box checking. Perhaps, if we're really honest with ourselves, our yoga class has also become a checked box too.

What about we practice a way to connect to our yoga bliss when we're living our lives off the mat? How about we begin to build a pattern off-mat so that we live our rectangle of hope in more places, more often and make space for awe and wonder to fill us to overflow? Even in our busy lives and all of our responsibilities, we can allow ourselves permission to pause to a moment of clarity, observation and a whole life more vibrantly alive. In that moment of notice, we not only avail ourselves to being more creative, nervous system regulation but we also recognize a new level of the privilege it is to live and to live vibrantly. 

When I open up my car door, my hand and grip strong and capable to do so, my knees bend, my hips hinge and my legs easily swing forward so I can sit down. Pause. How do my clothes feel? Am I warm? Am I cold? I center to noticing my seat beneath me in my car, and my posture readying to drive. Pause. What a wonder that I can set schedule, choose where I go and bring myself there. I live in a country where I can own my own car and drive where I want. Can I please not take that for granted? Pause. Sitting in the reception area for my doctor's appointment, can I sit comfortably in my body, observe the present moment by noticing the carpet or the upholstery on a chair opposite mine? Smells? Sounds? Lighting? What a window's view offers me, or take in the other people sharing the same room and in wait the same way I am. Pause. Stay present, slow my breath and allow a chance meeting with a stranger instead of scrolling mindlessly on my phone? Pause. Can I walk the isles of my favorite grocery store and take in the plethora of beautiful food before me? Pause. Can I smile at another perhaps to somehow influence someone else toward the joy for all of it too? Pause. Can I have a smile on my face when I sit at a red light because I know God blessed me with a moment to pause?

Wishing you lots of smiles on your face and even more in your hearts,
Jill 🧘🏻‍♀️