Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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friday 5 at the farm: yoga mantras by adriene

Hey friends, happy Friday AGAIN. And happy first Friday of a brand new month. And Happy Groundhog Day! According to tradition, we are supposed to expect six more weeks of cold weather. However. If you’re curious about what the Almanac has to say, read this. Our long-range forecast sounds ok.

Either way, it doesn’t matter. Time flies so quickly that all we really have to focus on is making the most of Every. Single. Day. If we fill them with enough Love and good things, six weeks can pass as beautifully as two.

Carpe the Diems, warm or cold, rain or shine! Gratitude in every circumstance, right? Count it All Joy as my husband says. 

Okay. Speaking of gratitude, I just wrapped up that luscious month of daily yoga practice with Adriene, having completed her new series called TRUE, and I adored it. She teaches, inspires, and just invites you to promote your own well being in deeper ways.  

For a Friday 5 this week I want to share some of my favorite mantras she offers on repeat.

  1. “Tap into that inner smile.” This is better than faking happiness. It’s a private affirmation, and it can be a wellspring of energy, especially on days when it seems easier to be down. There is always joy available.
  2. “Breathe in sync with your movement.” For me, this has everything to do with mindfulness as I work around the farm. It helps me continue praying while staying connected to the animals or the task at hand. It also helps a lot with running.
  3. “Set your hands with a particular kind of love.” This calms me down when I try to do too many things at once. It reminds me to focus and be deliberate. 
  4. “Find freedom in the form, escape the pose.” Such a friendly, healthy nod toward individualizing any plan, any structure in adult life. This also serves as a reminder to pursue the marrow of any project, the deep meaning and essential benefits, not just the outward appearance of completion.
  5. “Find what feels good.” Probably the line for which she is best known, and with good reason. I dare you to find an aspect of daily life where this doesn’t help.  

Don’t you love these?

Something funny thing this past month was that so often what she offered as a meditation on any given day happened to really line up with that day’s Bible devotional (I’ve been reading Jesus Calling by Sarah Young). The echoes have been soothing. Fortifying.

Sad to think that so many years ago the internet was filled with warnings about how yoga contradicts Christianity.

How unfortunate to miss out on the harmony between body and spirit.

Morning glory vines doing some refreshing twists… xoxo I am excited to see this green again!

Ok!

If you have ever done yoga with Adriene, you probably have your own favorite mantras, so please share them! Did you follow a month of TRUE? Which days resonated with you, or did you discover a new pose or meditation that was magical for your body or spirit?

Have you decided to stick with a daily yoga practice in February and beyond? I have for sure. Everything about it feels sublime. 

Don’t fret over the groundhog. Just get stuff done and be happy.

And do more yoga.

“Let us be full in whatever posture it is we are doing,
Just as we should be full in whatever we do in our lives.”
~B.K.S. Iyengar
XOXOXOXO

 

My Earliest Mornings

   For a few weeks now, on as many days as possible, I have been enjoying a lovely little early morning ritual that you might find interesting or useful. By early I mean before Hot Tub Summit, which on office days is before dawn. So on the days I manage to practice this little ritual, it is literally the first thing I do. And on those days my energy levels and outlook on life are noticeably better.

   No, they are amazingly better. The ritual is very simple and takes maybe thirty or forty five minutes. Here it is…

   First, I tiptoe downstairs alone, like an itchy elephant ballerina with a full bladder, trying my best to not wake Handsome. Most times this is only marginally successful. Once downstairs, I switch on only as many lamps as I absolutely need and barely whisper to Pacino (the parrot). I don’t want him to wake up my guy either. Then I press the start button on my beloved coffee machine. For the next ten minutes while it is brewing, hissing, and bubbling, gulping out that fragrant steam like the faithful companion that it is, I do some very unprofessional but still infinitely satisfying yoga stretches and deliberately say thanks for as many blessings as I can summon.

breathe in blessings

breathe out peace

   This is easy to do, because my life is sparkling with good things. It really is. So is yours. I believe the good outweighs the difficult every time you pay attention.

the grass is greenest where you water it

   The wannabe yoga stretches warm up my body and loosen my joints and muscles from the tethers of slumber. The gratitude exercise unlocks my heart and quiets any hurts or complaints I might have taken to bed with me the night before. The threshold between my days, then, is a positive one. A dimly lit room seems best for this first part. It’s also poetic, allowing an inner light to be the first spark between dark earthly days.

   By the time the coffee is brewed, dark and strong, my body is fairly awake my eyes are almost bright. I follow my nose to the kitchen and dispense a big, perfect, creamy mug of my personal addiction then sit down in my favorite weird green chair to read.

   For this next beautiful little slice of the day I indulge in reading very positive, motivational, inspirational stuff. I save the challenging texts for other times, allowing this first hour of my day to be a tank-filling time, a time for cushioning my heart and fueling my mind with the positivity I’ll need the rest of the day.

every action is preceded by a thought

   Sometimes I read from just a creative devotional book, or maybe a bunch of various quotes, or maybe a few chapters from a particular book that just happens to flood me with goodness. No major rules here, just that it’s positive.

   Lately, and this is a sign of personal spiritual progress, I’ve also been reading from the Bible. Our Pastor has been encouraging us to read certain scriptures repeatedly throughout each week, and the timing is funny. Because is the Bonhoeffer biography I just finished, Bonhoeffer spoke about the value of not just reading the scriptures but meditating on them. This is different from vain repetition, too. So I’ve been doing just that. I choose one or two chapters maybe every week or so, selections that either feel relevant to me or have been assigned at church… and just soak into them day after day. I try to allow them to soak into me, more accurately, and see what changes happen. It has been wonderful.

for the body is not one member, but many*

   That chapter in Corinthians has helped me conquer some plaguing insecurity. If you know me personally, then you know what a big deal that is.

   Then I spend a few minutes writing circular mandalas (more thankfulness) and focusing prayerfully on a special loved one. In the quiet house, with darkness still cloaking the big east window, I write down my hopes and prayers for that person. I imagine those hopes coming to fruition. I visualize those prayers being answered.

   The last thing I do is read and write creatively for a little bit. I finish drinking a cup or two of coffee, check email, and feed and smooch Pacino. This is all such a nourishing start to the day, preparing me for whatever lays ahead. My heart feels full, thrumming, overflowing. My body craves strength and healthy food and water, not junk or inactivity. I almost always go on extra long runs on these days. And my mind is centered and framed with a positive attitude. Sometimes I feel downright giddy at the end of this early morning ritual! The beauty of life becomes so deliciously overwhelming.

*********************

   So… there is a dark, quiet house in the earliest possible hour of the day. Yoga and thankfulness. Perfectly fresh coffee. Inspirational reading. Prayers and meditation, asking for blessings on the people I love. And finally more reading and writing, of any variety. What a glorious, lucky way to start any day! Just writing about it tonight makes me look forward to tomorrow.

   What is your earliest morning ritual? How do you insulate and energize yourself for a day of work? If you want to try any of this, I’d love to know about it. I’d like to think that some of my friends and loved ones are also up at that hour, counting their blessings and filling up on love and hope.

“Morning is when the wick is lit. A flame ignited,
the day delighted with heat and light,
we start the fight for something more than before.”
~Jeb Dickerson
xoxoxoxo

*I Corinthians 12: 14
 

 

Inviting a Peaceful Holiday Season

   I actually have some fun holiday related stuff to share with you guys, but I just finished reading some excellent news from my friend Nadya over at Journey Keeper (please find a  link to her wonderful blog over on the right hand column of this page; for some reason I cannot paste links here right now). Nadya has just become an accredited yoga instructor! Yay Nadya!! She has been working on this for some time, and I am so excited for her!
   Nadya’s most recent blog post about mindfulness and thought control reminded me of a circular written meditation she once taught me, one that incorporates lots of blessings-counting and calm mindfulness.

   Especially at this time of year, anything that calms us down and guides us to count our blessings is worth the time spent.

   All you do is start in the center of a blank sheet of paper and slowly write one thing after another for which you feel truly grateful. Add one item, then another, curving outward as you go, until you have built a spiral of gratitude. A very personal mandala of your own life, celebrated. And for those moments that you worked on your spiral, you have deliberately focused on only good.

   In my book, focusing on life’s good is powerful. It’s more than just not being negative; it irrigates and feeds what’s going well in your life and increases your positive movement. Being thankful shows the Source of your blessings that you appreciate those blessings and are open to more. How many times does the Bible remind us to be thankful, content, and filled with praise? How eager are you to shower someone with gifts when that person doesn’t appreciate what you have already done or given?

   As the holiday momentum ramps up, chances are pretty decent that stress will build too. For different reasons, peace will wear thin. But that’s okay. Before that takes hold, throughout the month, I intend to use this circular exercise to keep my heart steady and my energy focused on life and abundance, not lack.

   From materials concerns to practical holiday snags and the like… all the way to my heart’s deepest waiting  I am so happy to have this plan. To have this simple, peaceful, visual way to return to contentedness over and over again. Maybe I can even think up a way to make these December meditations into holiday ornaments! LOL

   Anyway, sincere congratulations to you Nadya! I know your yoga students, as well as your own sweet little Guppy, will benefit greatly from your instruction. If South Africa were a smidge closer to Oklahoma, then I would surely make time for a few of your yoga classes. Instead, I wish you so much success. I wish for you unbridled joy and rivers and rivers of peace. Thanks for sharing your discoveries and successes with the rest of us!

Namaste
xoxoxoxo