As part of my 300 hour Yoga Teacher Training, I am required to offer karma (read: free :)) yoga classes. I have been trying to figure out the best way to do so, and, equally so or of greater importance, who I would most like to invite on this journey with me. Since I haven't yet figured out how to become perfect, I want to offer yoga classes for people who are like me. Interesting, isn't it, how society tells us all the time that if we smile this way, use this product, or own this thing, that this will somehow make us perfect, or be an indication of how we have finally achieved perfection? Funny, though, I have yet to meet a perfect person. I suppose the goal we have been seeking is actually unattainable after all. Despite my initial disappointment at this discovery, I realized that this is actually a relief. So I can just show up as me? Great. Here I am. If you too are imperfect and want to show up as you, I am ready to meet you where you are. Even if you show up as different versions of yourself based on the current moment in your life. Even if you are stronger one day and less the next, even if you take some time to recalibrate and return to your favorite version of you, one day, hour, minute, or week at a time. I look forward to meeting you where you are, and celebrating that beautifully broken and wonderfully imperfect human being. If you are ready to show up authentically as you, I look forward to meeting you on the mat as me.
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I am more and more thankful for my time on mission as time goes on. During a time such as this, when I have the option of being stir crazy because of not being able to get out of the house, I realize how important it is to have the gifts of contemplation, reflection, and introspection. These are all gifts that I received on mission, and I will tell you about how that happened to me now. Before going on mission, if you asked me whether I was an introvert or an extrovert, I would have said, quickly and perhaps a bit too loudly, "An extrovert." In a time of social media memes becoming more prevalent than the three main news channels were in my childhood, I am hearing a different story. I still have the option of believing or not that story, but either way, the message is being received. Even though my Meyer's Briggs category always comes back ENFJ, I am starting to think that the needle is moving away from the "E" for extrovert and closer to the "I" for introvert on a regular basis. The one thing that was louder than anything else in my time on mission was silence, and I am starting to see its effects on the world, and its effects on myself. Although it may be an extremely unpopular opinion, I am grateful beyond belief for the time in self reflection and the pause that can be felt around the world. Instead of wanting back old routines that were long past their expiration date, I am yearning for time to find out who I am, and more time to explore who I am without all of the outside chatter that the world usually provides. One incredible surprise from this time for me is that a world of new opportunities is opening up for me. I am doing the things that I always pictured in my daydreams, but erroneously thought that they were out of reach, because I needed things outside of me to pursue them, like education, resources, and perfectionism. What I am learning, instead, during this moment of reprieve, is that it is less about what is outside of me and more about what is inside of me. When I listen to the still, small voice of my soul, it sends me messages of how I can achieve things that I thought were impossible. For example, I am recording and sharing meditations that are being heard internationally overnight, simply because I listened to the call to help others in a way that showcases the gifts that God has divinely passed on to me. I have had the opportunity to sit in the silence of my soul, and it has led me to find what I needed in the moment, and then to share that need with the world so that I may be of service to others. The same is true for my kid's yoga classes. What an uplifting moment in the day of a preschooler when he or she knows that their voice is being heard by a circle of children and adults, and I have now searched out a way to share this gift online to give the tools of self healing and rejuvenation to a group that otherwise would not have had access, and all because I was able to slowly and intentionally move away from fear and toward where my passion to work with children and inspire and empower them aligns with the need to have an outlet for a four or five year old child. What is my prayer for you as you are exploring new experiences in challenging ways? That you find a way to hear the still, small voice in your soul, and that you allow it to lead you to new adventures that you believed were outside of your reach, and by doing so, that you allow your light to shine in your own little way, because adding it to the little lights of others, we will create a glow that soothes and protects our hearts as it nourishes and strengthens the world! |
AuthorValerie Ellis, who is in alignment with the Black Lives Matter Movement and everyone whose life is impacted, now or before, by times of social injustice. Archives
July 2022
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