Monday 21 January 2013

Embrace Everything



Embrace Everything.

Last night in yoga our wonderfully inspired and courageous teacher invited us to try something new in our life and embrace everything. Initially this started in our practice but it extends much further off the mat...
So often we are told to just "let it go". If you feel angry/frustrated/basically any negative emotion - we are encouraged to shake it off, remind ourselves of what we can be grateful for and try to just be present in this very moment. And I do believe that is a wonderful goal to achieve that feeling of just being present in your breath and body for that very moment... However if it means we are merely squishing all those negative chitter chatters into the corner of our brains, or bodies for that matter, then is it really productive? 

I guess we have to be honest with ourselves. If we are feeling totally zen and rose coloured glasses then we are lucky to be in the space where we can simply let go and be and enjoy that ride =) But if we are having a cranky pants day as Mum calls it, (and let's face it we all have one at least once a week) then maybe the most loving thing we can do for ourselves is to embrace it. To embrace all our past hurts, to embrace all our past loves, to embrace all our mistakes, to embrace all our achievements. Let's be clear that there is definitely a clear distinction between "embracing" and "sitting in our own crap". We can move from our frustrations to a place of pity and self-loathing or we can move from our frustrations into a place of acceptance by allowing ourselves to feel it, cry, run, whatever and eventually release it. 

Because that is how we move into our own power. 

I have really been relishing my yoga practice of late and I think it is because it is constantly reminding me of how powerful I can be in my own body and mind if I let myself go there. I am at a point in my life where I am starting again from the ground up and  building foundations from new once more- it's scary! By using my physical strength I am able to ground myself and also gain confidence that I can keep moving forward. When life feels rocky I don't uproot and sway frail-like in the wind, I step strongly onto my feet, feel those ups and downs in my body and remind myself that I am strong enough to go through it all.

This also ties hand in hand with a thought I had the other day about goal-setting. At the beginning of every year, I like to read over my previous years goals/intentions/affirmations and then write a new set for the coming year. Many people do this, and also many people feel like it is a load of fluff. Whatever floats your boat =) 
While reading and writing I realised that each goal was a little path of my year's journey. A life goals list should not be a bullet point list that you can tick off week by week. Because those goals that we feel most proud of achieving are the ones with the best back-stories! I could see a thread running between almost every intention I had written and how they all came together to teach me the valuable life lessons I needed to learn last year, and also a few that were still ongoing. I could see how an intention I had written that seemed quite simple at face value actually came up several times over the year so I had the opportunity to really truly embrace that lesson in my body and step forward past it even brighter than before. The Universe served me opportunities that helped me find the confidence in myself to work through what I needed to ultimately embody that intention. Very often, those opportunities may have seemed tough and maybe even unfair but they certainly made me start walking my own talk! 
If you are open to it, I invite you to write out a list of intentions for your 2013 and as your are doing it be kind and gentle to yourself. Don't write "to lose 10kg" if you are just going to berate yourself everytime you eat a cookie =) Instead embrace that you are a fluid being and word it more in a positive and accepting way such as "to see myself as a strong, healthy, fit, and sexy individual". Choose goals that invite you to learn more about yourself and discover all your sides. Take a chance on you!


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