What We Talk About When We Talk About Abundance

Confession: as much as I seriously, completely, whole-heartedly love yoga, I also appreciate a little irreverence toward it now and then. Especially when it comes to "yoga-related vocabulary." Face it--there are some words that yoga folks (and I hereby count myself among the guilty) tend to use. A lot. You know--words like "Energy." "Cultivate." "Heart-opening." And oh man, "abundance."  

Don't get me wrong. I like abundance. I do! But I have trouble with finding a way to use the word that doesn't make me feel weird. And it's because, well, abundance is a hard thing to measure.

It can be a bit troubling to hear the word "abundance" being used as a place-holder for "getting what you want when you want it."  While a certain level of material comfort is inarguably useful in forging a meaningful and joyful life, it certainly isn't the measure of our worth. In fact, it seems to me  that the moments in life that show us abundance are those that invite us to stretch, to grow. to make more of ourselves than we have been before. And often that invitation comes in the form of challenging circumstances! 

Here's a little yoga-vocabulary-related detail that I can love without reservation: the naming of our challenges as Lakshmi (the Goddess of Abundance herself!)  I used to have a dear friend and massage therapist who, upon finding a knotted-up muscle in my back, would proclaim: "Oh, here's a little Lakshmi! Let's check her out."  The challenge, the tight spot, became a point of interest--an opeining into possibility that wouldn't have been there if I'd shown up with perfectly relaxed muscle tissue everywhere.  

The point is, it's easy to recognize abundance AFTER we've weathered some challenge--thinking that the abundance of life rushes in when difficulty bows out. But in fact, Lakshmi was there all along, in the difficult parts that made more of us. Sometimes we just need to catch our breath and receive that.  

I wish you all the abundance of spring--with just enough challenge and just enough support to grow greater by.  

With great love,  

Erin  

Put yourself to sleep.

Okay, friends; today's blog entry is on the entirely practical side. And it's a topic that, as a busy yoga-teaching mama, is very dear to my heart: sleep. Good sleep. Sleep that happens early and easily. The kind of sleep that allows for good dreams at night, and even better dreams of all of waking life's possibilities. Too bad we tend to treat it like a luxury.

I don't know about you, but nothing makes me unable to sleep like....well, not sleeping. There's a build-up, when I spend several nights in a row tossing and turning, which leads to my body actually forgetting how to regulate itself. It's a really yucky, over-adrenalized, dried-up, exhausted feeling. Thank god for the remedy of yoga.

To get settled:

1. Turn off your computer/television/noise-making, artificial-light producing technology at least two hours before you want to sleep.  (The. Hardest. Part. At least for little old "I have to get this list done before I go to bed" me.)

2. Also, make sure your last meal is finished at least 2-3 hours before sleeping.

3. An hour before bed, do this little practice, which emphasizes the parasympathic nervous system response--a.k.a. the part of your system which is responsible for calming you down:

Child's pose--1 minute

Downward-Facing Dog--1 minute

Uttanasana--1 minute

Shoulder stretch

Lizard Pose (low lunge, with back knee on floor and elbows on floor on the inside of the front leg.) Do both sides.

Shoulderstand/legs up the wall: 3 minutes or longer

Plow pose: 2 minutes or longer

Gentle supine twist--laying on your back, bend your knees, and lower legs over to the right. Stay a minute, then switch sides.

Pranayama: ujjayi breathing (a subtle whisper at the back of your throat; similar to when you fog up a mirror with your breath, only it's done with your lips closed, breathing in and out through the nose.) Emphasize the EXHALE, making it slightly longer than the inhale.

Savasana: lay down--maybe in bed! Make sure you're warm. If your mind is still very active, you may continue with ujjayi breath as long as you like. Rest your right hand on your belly, your left hand at your heart. Imagine yourself getting heavier with every exhale.

Sweet dreams!

Erin

Wake-up Call

Spring weather, in February. I never get over it! Having spent a significant portion of my life in places (Buffalo, NY; Lincoln, NE) where winter can last for six months, the early warmth seems like a magic trick of nature--and I still laugh and marvel every time this particular rabbit gets pulled out of the darkness of its hat.  

The arrival of light and warmth turns my brain back on. Things like creativity and hope and questions like, "what would be the most meaningful and awesome thing to do next?" start to return. And in their returning, I realize that they have, in fact, been absent for a while. I must reckon with the realization that, woah, I've been doing a crazy kind of asana, on a fairly regular basis, for the last few months: the "keep your head down" pose, with its accompanying mantra of "get through it. Just get through it."  

Here's what hits me: I don't want to just "get through" my life. Regardless of the season, the weather outside, or how many fun shiny new exhilirating experiences are present or absent in my week. If yoga practice has taught me anything, it's this: there's really no moment that's not rich with the opportunity to engage with what surrounds us, and what's within us. Those things are always on the menu. It's just that we don't always think about placing an order.  

A beloved teacher of mine said once, "we don't live with the way the world is. We live with the way we receive the world." I'm humbled and inspired all the time by these words. They taunt me in the best way, asking me to look at how I'm receiving the world today--and what I'm doing with what I get. To me, this line of questioning constitutes the great conversation between the heart and the mind. We're invited to wake up and to use all of our faculties to respond.  

I wish you all a beautiful, healthy beginning to spring time--whether it comes to you today, or two months from now (Buffalo friends, I'm lookin' at you!) And in the meantime--let's all do the "heads up" pose. With it's accompanying mantra of, you know, "wow."  

With great love,  

Erin