WORKOUT

Recently I have decided that in order to improve my communication skills as a trainer/yoga instructor (what have you)  I would offer free training sessions to friends and co-workers until April.  Of course, the talk amongst the ladies was giddy and filled with thoughts of butt-lifts, bat-wing removal, six packs and of course, no more cellulite.  All of these things are good dreams to hold, but the reality of it, or so I have learned, is that it is not a workout, it is a lifestyle.  If you treat your workout and diet as if it weren't temporary (think about it, I bet 99.9 percent of you are simply doing it for a means to an end, like that one day at the beach) then you can build a foundation to last a lifetime.

I have a..."client,"who seemed to me like a very unlikely candidate to incorporate all the necessary aspects of a healthy lifestyle in order to improve her body.  So far she has proved me dead wrong and I have made a great friend in the process.  Yoga or any kind of physical training, much like meditation requires control over ones body.  And yes, you guessed it, just like most of us don't have control over our own lives, we don't have control over our own bodies.  Therefore, in that defining moment when you finally truly take a real breath, or balance, or find your core, or run that fourth mile, a wall crumbles down.  And with that wall comes everything that it was holding it there in the first place.  This means a stream of uncontrollable emotion that you blocked because you couldn't control it.  Good control leads to the release of things that ought not to be controlled.  Funny.

It is also curious as to who shows up and/or who needs to be prompted to show up and pushed to work.  It is a bit odd for me because I want to be hard on people, I want to push them, but I don't want to scare them away from something because it's hard.  I want them to work harder because it's hard.  I want them to do it simply because it's hard and the rewards will be that much sweeter.  Although, I think my experience today especially gave me quite a bit of insight as to what to work on as far as my communication goes and how to push people with positivity.  It's a work in progress.

Your fault?

Excuse me while I drag myself out of bed.  Excuse me I didn't get enough sleep last night.  It was my fault though, I went to bed too late.  Although, I did have to work well into the morning.  Excuse me I'm very grumpy, there is nothing to eat around here.  Well there is, but I shouldn't eat it.  At least I don't think I should.  Everyone else I know seems to eat it.  Everyone else I know has the same problems that I have.  Everyone else in this country eats this stuff and has the same problems I have.  They are tired because they go to sleep too late, they are grumpy because they eat this stuff and they are unhappy because it is their fault, but they are too confused to make the "right," decisions.  I am unhappy.  Here is a pill.  I am unhappy.  Here is a beer.  I am unhappy.  Here is a body.  I am unhappy.  But it seems to me that so is everyone else.

It is a sad reality that posted everywhere all the time are people having "fun," eating Big Macs, buying Victoria Secret lingerie, drinking Grey Goose vodka and wearing pounds of makeup and other anti-look-like-yourself products.  I have bought into almost all of it.  I don't blame myself, because guess what?  It's not my fault.  But guess what else?  It IS my fault for giving myself the time and credit to come to the realization that I am ENOUGH.

There is a quick fix for literally everything these days, but absolutely nothing addresses the root of these problems, which happens to be quite simply: how we address our quality of life and how we define it.  Unfortunately, the lot of us define our happiness based on the media and the people around us.  If we have the best things, look the best and make the most money than we are happy.  If we are not happy with all of this "stuff" (god forbid) SOMETHING must be wrong with us, right?  Now for those of us who are struggling, our unhappiness has a reason, so in that we take some comfort.  We also take comfort in the "fact" that once we do receive money, we can go out and be happy again.  

Cigarette advertisements are band in a handful of countries and since 2010 in the US, severely limited in the sense that there can be NO music, and NO sound effects.  Cigarettes are addictive.  Clothes are addictive.  Money addictive.  Food is addictive.  Sex is addictive.  We are animals and once upon a time these instincts, these pleasure releasing items were a sign that we were going to survive a famine, a harsh winter, or be able to pass on our genes.  We live in a world of feast but famine has never come.  We pump calories into our body and receive no nutrition.  We use people on a daily basis and receive no love or commitment.  We diet, buy clothes, makeup, and drink to feel better for an hour.  But our actual "need" is really no need at all.

Turn the TV off.  Stay away from the mall for a week.  Grab a handful of fruit, a cup of tea, your raggedy sweat shirt and a book.  Like a real one.  Twilight, Fifty Shades of whatever (it's porn with a fancy cover) and magazines don't count.  Nourish your body as well as your soul.  The addictions that this world has convinced you that you need will only add to your inability to help yourself choose to be happy.

Truth demands responsibility

"Violence, it resides in a man's mind, and not in the instrument he holds in his hand."

This quote actually has nothing to do with gun violence, but instead with being a vegetarian.  Iyengar says that violence is a state of mind not a diet.  I'm not sure if I could ever become a vegetarian, let alone a vegan!  But getting back on topic, I would have to agree that our states of violence come not from guns, rap music or video games, but from a sickness of the mind.

"Violence is bound to decline when men learn to base their faith upon reality and investigation rather than upon ignorance and supposition."

People no longer search for truth, we simply wait for it to be delivered to us, whether it be through the news or facebook or an app on our phone all we have to do is click and wait.  If we bothered to do our own research to improve our well being, our happiness and the quality of our life instead of searching for blame and demanding justice and change, we may improve the root of the problem.  We choose to point fingers and scratch the surface, it takes all responsibility away from us.  We must not forget we are responsible all the time just simply because we are present.

Chiita Vritti Nirodhah: Restraint of Mental Modifications.
I am still digging through, no wading through, no barely crawling through the introduction of 'Yoga Dipika.'  In my defense, it's a lot to take in.  In the books defense, I am a fidgety, overly stimulated twenty-something that is a product of cable TV, the Internet, social media, the media and my own inability to say NO.  I kept thinking...how in the world am I going to learn all of this Sanskrit in time for class?  Then I remembered that; a) it doesn't matter how much I've memorized as long as I am willing to put in the time to learn it and b) no one cares.  Focus is nearly impossible in this day and age.  Just sitting here I am thinking about the fact that I have to (no I really don't have to do anything) work out within the next ten minutes, I have to work at 6, what am I going to wear to work, what is Kenny watching is the other room, I can hear the neighbors doing their laundry, I need to eat soon, I still need to wrap some Christmas presents, I am so damn cold, how am I going to finish this book, work, study yoga, and do everything else I need to do.  So here's the point: a good portion of the things I am thinking/worrying about I do not have control over, or rather I have no control over them right NOW.  Just as you cannot be a good partner to someone else if you are not happy with yourself, you cannot achieve what you need to at this moment if you are struggling with an achievement of the past or the future.  Now let me be clear and say that preparedness is something you can do now.  But in this moment of me sitting on my couch the best I can do is sort my thoughts and if something is bothering me, like my work out, I can either get it done or chose to disregard it and it's immediate importance to present state (upeksa, yes I learned something today).  

My long winded explanation of my own inability leaves me with this note today.  Silence. Breath.  The ability to be blind to some things, sometimes.  Live in the now, live in your heart but be clear to the reality that you want to see, not what is projected in your face every time you turn something on.  Alabdha Bhumikatva: Failure to attain continuity of thought or concentration so that your reality is not seen clearly. 

"Continuity and a sense of the universal come with the knowledge of the inevitable alternation of tension and relaxation in eternal rhythms of which inhalation and exhalation constitutes one cycle, wave or vibration among the countless myriads which are the universe.  What is the alternative?  Thwarted, warped people condemning the order of things, cripples criticizing the upright, autocrats slumped in expectant coronary attitudes, the tragic spectacle of people working out their own imbalance and frustration on others." - Yehudi Menuhin.

This passage was found in the forward of 'Light on Yoga,' or  'Yoga Dipika,' one of the many books that dig deep into the heart, history and true roots of yoga, the practice to end suffering.  This book was recommended to me as necessary reading material before I start my training on January 17th.  As I slowly wade through it's pages, I hope to spread some of it's light through my posts.  It spoke to me on so many levels, personally it made me reflect on my attitude towards others when I am suffering of course.  However, globally, it weighs in on recent tragic events our nation has just been through.  Though this passage will be brief, and it is also my first, I want to leave on one note: as I begin this journey and apply these dreams, beliefs and hopes from my mat to my life and to my world, I hope to find perspective and balance and share my small findings consistently with you on my blog.

Namaste