My class theme this week has been Totally Tapas. I created a flow that focused, quite literally, on heat. The heat we create physically AND mentally. I felt it was appropriate after talking with someone about her journey with anxiety.
I think the most important thing I've ever shared with my students and clients is that we don't lose our anxious tendencies overnight. We weren't born anxious. We didn't come into this world with OCD and phobias. It took time for us to create them through our perceptions and experiences. The same is true for us to heal from anxiety. It takes time. There are so many times I see people have monumental breakthroughs, only to feel they are "cured" and then they slide right back into old patterns- which in turn cause the same anxieties to arise. I know it gets frustrating when we find relief through yoga, breathing, EFT, etc. and it doesn't stick around that long. Healing from anxiety is literally a practice, just like yoga. There's no such thing as a "cure" because anxiety is an emotion. Just like happiness and anger. We don't just eliminate it. We learn how to work through it. Similar to when we step on the mat in yoga. Perhaps you're being challenged with a tough sequence full of poses that you struggle through. You don't just step off your mat and leave, right? At least I hope you don't! You find a way to make the pose work for you! Maybe you modify it or even just sit it out and take a child's pose. Whatever it is, you figure it out. And you go back again the next day, or the day after that. You keep working, practicing, and opening up new experiences. I remember when I used to find headstand traumatizingly scary! Now I love it! It took patience, perserverence and commitment to get to that place. Same with anxiety. We will constantly be challenged along the way. We just have to remember to stick through it and find a way to cope.
So a tapas themed practice really called to my soul this week. Tapas is the Sanskrit word for heat. In yogic philosophy it is the fire that burns within us. It is our self control, our focus, our drive, our discipline. It is the discipline that we need to obtain a goal when we are faced with struggles along the way.
So tap into your Tapas this week. Identify your challenges and open up the space within you to have the discipline and mindfulness to keep pushing through. Whether kicking into handstand or conquering a fear, you have the power within you to make it through!
xo b
photo cred
https://www.google.com/search?q=handstand&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=uSqAUe-WHqaT0QGgnYDQDg&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=667#imgrc=BynKu219vE0doM%3A%3BGnUIE-hqXBinFM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.yogirose.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2010%252F07%252Fhandstand.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.yogirose.com%252F%253Fp%253D30%3B333%3B500
I think the most important thing I've ever shared with my students and clients is that we don't lose our anxious tendencies overnight. We weren't born anxious. We didn't come into this world with OCD and phobias. It took time for us to create them through our perceptions and experiences. The same is true for us to heal from anxiety. It takes time. There are so many times I see people have monumental breakthroughs, only to feel they are "cured" and then they slide right back into old patterns- which in turn cause the same anxieties to arise. I know it gets frustrating when we find relief through yoga, breathing, EFT, etc. and it doesn't stick around that long. Healing from anxiety is literally a practice, just like yoga. There's no such thing as a "cure" because anxiety is an emotion. Just like happiness and anger. We don't just eliminate it. We learn how to work through it. Similar to when we step on the mat in yoga. Perhaps you're being challenged with a tough sequence full of poses that you struggle through. You don't just step off your mat and leave, right? At least I hope you don't! You find a way to make the pose work for you! Maybe you modify it or even just sit it out and take a child's pose. Whatever it is, you figure it out. And you go back again the next day, or the day after that. You keep working, practicing, and opening up new experiences. I remember when I used to find headstand traumatizingly scary! Now I love it! It took patience, perserverence and commitment to get to that place. Same with anxiety. We will constantly be challenged along the way. We just have to remember to stick through it and find a way to cope.
So a tapas themed practice really called to my soul this week. Tapas is the Sanskrit word for heat. In yogic philosophy it is the fire that burns within us. It is our self control, our focus, our drive, our discipline. It is the discipline that we need to obtain a goal when we are faced with struggles along the way.
So tap into your Tapas this week. Identify your challenges and open up the space within you to have the discipline and mindfulness to keep pushing through. Whether kicking into handstand or conquering a fear, you have the power within you to make it through!
xo b
photo cred
https://www.google.com/search?q=handstand&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=uSqAUe-WHqaT0QGgnYDQDg&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=667#imgrc=BynKu219vE0doM%3A%3BGnUIE-hqXBinFM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.yogirose.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2010%252F07%252Fhandstand.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.yogirose.com%252F%253Fp%253D30%3B333%3B500
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