Yoga Among Friends

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Lighten Up and Stay Cool

Life is messy, especially when we let go of being perfect.  I am always reminding myself that I am a work in progress. It’s a gift to be willing to enjoy the uncertainty of living. I can set intentions and let go of striving to reach a goal. I may be able to create venues of learning and let go of who might answer the inner invitation to join.

My identity is always changing with my various roles.  My true purpose is to create safe havens for the mind to rest and for the soul to be nourished. Yoga is a lifestyle of living in mindful awareness that to bully me is to feed the wrong mind.

So today, as the temperatures outside begin to cool, I am cultivating a presence of patience. Cooling my inner frustration by shifting my need to fix or do. I am enjoying my puppy as I accept the insanity of my new life, and I will continue to nourish vitality and passion for cooling the mind and keeping the hearts warm.  Humor and laughter are the paths of the soul.

Celebrating this new beginning is the art of living wisely. I engage in the blessing of keeping the joy of laughter in the midst of great sadness. I am constantly refining my listening for that silent knock on my heart that keeps inspiring me to love more. My greatest challenge is to actually begin when my little mind conspires to stay within its safe boundaries of the familiar and stay the same.

Life is moving us forward, and the willingness to let go and answer the siren call of the soul. I trust that this moment calls us all to live consciously as loving human beings.  What is the new horizon in you that wants to be seen?

It is clear that the world is overheated, and our inner heat is presented as frustration with overwhelming tensions of thoughts spinning. The mind has lost the ease of focus as exhaustion fills the entire body. Our outer world is a constant reminder of the ever-changing uncertainty of living. To live wisely and with ease is to accept change as a constant.

The teachings of yoga remind us that suffering is the resistance and fear of change. How do we remain balanced with the grace and stability of being present as we practice shifting the random roaming mind into the awareness of a deep breath?  The inner wisdom of the witness is the constant quiet voice of forgiveness for learning wrong. When I feed fear, I only stir up the activity of my anger to fix and strive for my safety.

The breath is the bridge home and allows my nervous system to ease into a shift of perspective. I practice constantly to clear my lens so that I might see clearly that life is presenting a new opening. To trust the stillness of being patient with uncertainty is living wisely even when my little mind is screaming to run away. To say out loud, “Laura Jane, you don’t know anything”, is the gateway to my human vulnerability laughing at myself in loving kindness.

May we all find ourselves in our own sitcom of life when we realize to control is only causing more anger. Set an intention to live with more laughter, as we “lighten up” the present horrors of what we might be seen in the world of anger and rage. I am speaking of compassionate humor, which allows for the heart to be lighter and the blessings of joy to expand into the world.

May this August be cooler and yet the hearts warmer.

Blessings always,

Laura Jane