I realized, as I was walking around the house, sipping coffee, looking at my phone and listening to NPR that I had this felt sense that my practice wouldn’t make a difference and that I actually feel so pumped running around, “doing” stuff. I felt productive.
That for me is a drug. I want to feel productive and “busy”. And yet the juice of deeper learning and transformation comes in a 2-5 minute practice. The trick is getting to your mat, pillow, woods, breath, journal, cold shower and more. The choices are endless what you can practice in a small “daily dose” way.
Spending time alone, on your pillow or mat for example is priceless. Taking a group yoga class is awesome for community connection, catching up and working out the body. But, I find the power of a practice happens 100 fold, when you roll out your mat or drop the pillow in your home space, alone. Absolutely alone; all of you shows up.. Being alone drops you immediately into your crazy, delicious, loving, hurt, painful , uncomfortable stuff. I used to say in my yoga classes, “how you do anything is how you do everything”, and there is much truth to that. Noticing how you breath, what pattern is showing up and conversely what messages are being sent to the organs, glands, nervous system and brain because of your specific breathing pattern. Then, if you want to achieve a specific outcome like, relaxation, de-stress, more energy, balance or grounding, all you need to do is change your breathing pattern to shift the many messages to the whole body. Or how do you do a yoga pose? Is it in and out quickly? Or, do you take time to breathe, feel and sit with what is showing itself? These are powerful messengers. Don’t shoot the messenger, listen to the teaching of the message. That takes practice and it’s a worthy one.
So, today, I put my phone down, and my cup of coffee (tough one) and sat on my pillow. I dropped into my Coherent Breathing practice for 6 minutes. So much moved within me and I had such a lovely release of busy-ness and tension. My mind cleared some, and I felt the effects of the practice almost immediately. This is why I’m writing now. There was some clarity and reward in just a few minutes of dedicated practice.
If you are curious about how to build your tool box with techniques that are helpful and tailored to your life, as well as how to apply them in a Daily Dose, Kaizen (a small, good change) way, please reach out: www.thedailydosewellness.com
I’m grateful for you! <3
In Breath,
Mark Gerow
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