There’s been something in the air lately. It seems folks all around (me included) have been experiencing seasons of challenge—seasons where the unforeseeable happens. Seasons where difficult conversations take place, personal space is disrupted, and decisions are demanded, even though there’s no telling what the “right” decision is. When the things that we hold close and safe to our hearts get turned upside down, we enter our most trying times.
In one of our recent Instagram posts, it read:
“Stop trying to calm the storm. Calm yourself, the storm will pass.” (see here)
Any time we move into unfamiliar territory, we perceive it as a storm, something that threatens our safety. Before we know it, the panic we feel swells up inside and we are no longer watching the storm outside. We are dealing with the storm inside—the turmoil of emotions and fear. The moment when we are no longer the observer is the moment to call upon our yoga practice.
Very simply, there are two places you can be—here and there. Here and there become a bit of a paradox, so stay with me. Consider this: “there” is when you function as if the world revolves around you and you’re at the effect of the things that happen in your life. You become fixated on what’s out “there” and as a result feel overwhelmed, out of control, and frenetic (the storm within). When you function from “here,” you see the world happening all around you, and you are both independent and dependent upon it. You’re a player but not the star. You see how it continuously revolves with people acting in kind and unkind ways, life being vibrant and also dark, and you having say in some decisions but also seeing that, as humans, we are limited in our control.
The main difference is that out “there” is filled with drama and excitement, which is entertaining to our psyche, until it’s not. Until it feels like too much. Being “here” has a low-grade excitement all the time. You become equipped to handle all situations because you’ve seen how everything is only temporary. When you can see the world happening around you, life becomes an adventure of wondering “what’s next?!”
So today I invite you to take on the challenge of watching what’s happening around you. See it as an invitation not to be wrapped up in it, but to be along for the ride.
Justina and Ignite Yoga Team
