“If you think you don’t have 20 minutes a day to meditate, you probably need to meditate for at least 40!” ♥
I recently let our cable subscription lapse. I haven’t watched television in more than a week, now, and y’know … I really don’t miss it. I honestly thought I would. Instead, though, I’m enjoying a sudden burst of spaciousness in my life. I have a sense of there being more possibilities. I’ve been getting to bed earlier, started a book on Tantra I’ve been wanting to read, and am generally feeling more relaxed and energized. It’s all feeling very good.
(And to think — my partner has probably been thinking I was just being lazy about paying that cable bill! ☺)
Over the years, students have confided to me that they’d really like to do more yoga and meditation on their own … or to attend our yoga nidra class because it sounded like exactly what they needed at the time. “But,” they continue, “I can’t do it right now because …” (you can probably fill in the rest, yourself: e.g., I’m too busy getting ready for Christmas; My son/daughter is just back from college; I’ve got to focus more on work because of this tight economy …). I think on most of our tombstones, it might someday read something like,
“Pat
was a
very, very
busy person …R.I.P. — finally.”
I totally get not wanting to overwhelm ourselves with too many obligations — and I applaud any of us for protecting our own needs. But “needs” can be a tricky word. There are surface needs, and then there are the needs that spring from our soul’s deepest desires. I think it’s clear that most people ignore these heartfelt longings until it is too late. At 55, though, these are the ones I am most interested in, these days. When I go to my grave, I’d prefer my epitaph to state,
He
lived his
desires in great
joy – and everyone
around him prospered!
How about you … what will your life’s theme be?
“But I’m Still To Busy To Practice!”
Up above, I quoted a wise (and humorous) observation that suggests,
“If you can’t find 20 minutes a day
to meditate … you probably need
to meditate for at least 40!”
Meaning: Our lives often feel overwhelming to us because we have taken on way too much — particularly too much of the stuff that does not actually serve our true needs, i.e., our life’s purpose. (Did you know we now take in three times as much information as we did in 1960?!) We spend so much time trying to placate our fears of not knowing, doing, being, or having enough that we ignore what is most important to us.
The solution is not to do more — that only supports a vicious cycle of anxiety, fear, and overstriving. The solution is to check in with our own “internal guidance system” — and to do so regularlly. Once we allow ourselves to actually slow down — even for just a little bit — we start to seeso much greater clarity. Importantly, we also become more decisive about just what to leave in, and what to leave out (to paraphrase from Bob Seger’s immortal Against the Wind).
When we slow down and show up in the present, we get to remember our truest desires – the ones we came here to fulfill.
Rather than crowd our busy schedule, I healthy yoga or meditation practice actually opens up more space in our lives. (Like giving up watching TV, it can help us release that “clutter” we accumulate in our heads.) And over time, we find ourselves choosing to focus more on what we love, rather than on what we merely feel obligated to do. (We can even begin to enjoy many of the things we once felt were a chore!)
♥○♥○♥
So there you have it … a few new seeds for you to plant at the start of what I hope will be your most joy-filled Spring season ever!
♥
P.S. Quite a number of my yoga and yoga nidra students are discovering, first-hand, the truth of this … and are delighting in seeing spontaneous and positive transformations appearing in their lives.
If you’d like to join them, please consider being part of our recurring 8-wk. yoga nidra introductory-level series (Mondays 7:00-8:45 p.m.) — one may be starting very soon! Contact me for information.