Day 362 Intention ~ Stop Comparing

Day 362 Intention ~ Stop Comparing

Keeping up with the Joneses, it's the American way. From the car we drive to our home or even our yoga pants, we compare ourselves to our neighbors, family, friends, sometimes the person on the mat next to us.

With all of this comparing, how can we ever keep up? There will always be someone richer, prettier, with fancier clothes and an a wheel pose that looks like one of the arches in St. Louis.

In time, over the years, I have let go of comparing my practice to others. The more recent struggle has been while taking class. I have a tendency to compare the teachers teaching to my own. Unfortunately, no matter how great I think their class is, with all of this comparing, I am not present for class.

Today, while in a wonderful class, I caught this comparing starting up. Luckily, I realized it & told myself to let go of it so that I could get the most out of the class. Once I let go of it, instead of losing self-confidence in my own teaching, I found inspiration from this teacher.

Til tomorrow...

Shanti,

Marcia

Day 361 Intention ~ Get Reinspired

Day 361 Intention ~ Get Reinspired

 

 

I suffer from end-of-the-year-itus right now. I am excited that I have only three more classes in 2013. There is this thought in my head that come next Thursday when I am back to teaching, that everything will be new again just at the turn of a calendar page.

 

Why wait?!

 

Well, much to my surprise, instead of leaving 2013 feeling burned out and wanting to just hole up and hide for a month, I am already feeling renewed.

 

How did this happen?

 

Well, inspiration can come in the simplest ways. I needed to drive my husband to work this morning because his car is in the shop. I don't have class til later this afternoon, so I decided to watch a yoga documentary this morning. As I listened to different yoga masters talk about yoga, I started to feel that spark inside again. I started to realize that yoga is so important, not only for me but for millions of people. It is such a healing and growth tool. It is simply transformational and amazing.

 

Once the film was finished, I took George for a walk. As we walked through the snowy streets, I felt inspiration. Just being outside in the fresh air with a being who is so present there is no ignoring it.

 

I came home and started to write notes for an article that I have been struggling with conceptually for a long time now. I rolled out my mat and am warming up my little yoga room as I type this, and again, I am awed by the life I get to live and create and connect in.

 

Til tomorrow...

 

Shanti,

 

Marcia

 

 



Day 281 Intention ~ Write!

Day 281 Intention ~ Write!

Beyond this blog. I write for Examiner.com and for other websites that I actually have assignments to complete. For whatever reason, I have been uninspired (or perhaps just lazy) and haven't been writing lately. 

Usually on Tuesdays, I head to my friends house and work for them. They had a long ride back to Ohio yesterday and are taking the day off. This means one of those days I often dream of when I am too busy, a day to write, practice yoga, put up Halloween decorations, and do all sorts of things that are always on my list of "when I get a free day" to do items. 

I have been wanting to write a couple different articles about yoga in addition to what I want/need to write for Examiner, and today seems like the perfect opportunity to actually get at least an outline going. 

So, today is about writing!

Hopefully I can motivate :)

Til tomorrow...

Shanti,

Marcia

Day 116 Intention ~ Keep It Light-Hearted

Day 116 Intention ~ Keep it light-hearted

Sometimes...okay, lots of times, when I am getting ready to go teach class, I find myself getting hung up on trying to make the class the most profound class with all sorts of fancy sequences and try to really blow the students mind. 

Reality is, in general, when I keep it light-hearted and just go with the feeling in the room, it goes much better. 

Being a yoga teacher is a funny thing sometimes. You get so immersed in yoga and living in a yogic way, that you forget that not everyone is like that. You forget that for some, they just want to feel worked out. There is nothing wrong with that. Of course, I would like to leave each student with a little nugget from the other parts of yoga besides asana practice. But, I also want to make them want to come back. The other stuff usually comes in time, so if they keep coming back, there are more and more chances to get them on to more philosophy and talk about the yamas and niyamas or about The Bhagavad Gita. 

So, instead of putting tons of pressure on myself this afternoon to act like I am some sort of guru, I am just going to have fun with it, and hope that my students do too. 

Til tomorrow...

Shanti, 

Marcia

Day 87 Intention ~ Follow Your Dreams

Day 87 Intention ~ Follow Your Dreams

What do you really want to do with your life? 

It's a big question. 

The other big question: Are you doing it? 

If not, it's never too late to start! It may be a dream or vision you had of yourself when you were a child or maybe it just struck you yesterday, but why not make a move to do what you want to do and find happiness?!

When I was younger, I used to write all of the time. I actually looked at going into journalism at Ohio State. When I opted not to go to Ohio State, for whatever reason, I didn't write anything just for me...for 20 years! 

A studio that I used to teach at was having a 5-week workshop on making yourself happy through healthy eating, exercise, lifestyle, etc...you get the idea. We would have assignments each week. One week, we had to create something whether it be a drawing, a sculpture, or whatever, but create it. So, I wrote a poem. It felt really good. 

Since then, I now write for 3 websites and this blog :)

I have also written a couple articles for my friends neighborhood paper. 

My husband started to suggest that I write a book. I thought to myself, "Okay, I'll just whip one out." But, in reality, I liked the idea. I just have a fear of it not being good and what would I write about?!?! This started to become a bit of a secret obsession for me, wondering what to write a book about. 

Wednesday morning I was driving to one of my classes and was enjoying the scenery around me, and it was almost like a vision...the story started to unfold in my mind. So, today, I am going to outline my book and start my newest dream. Inspiration can come at any time in life, we just need to be present and allow it to come in. 

Til tomorrow...

Shanti, 

Marcia

Day 75 Intention ~ Realize How Far I Have Come.

Day 75 Intention ~ Realize How Far I've Come...

Today I did what I've been wanting to do for a loooong time. I reorganized and cleaned my yoga room. Heck, I may even be able to practice in there again! 

As I was cleaning out all of the random sheets of paper and old lesson plans and notebooks, I started skimming through some of them. And boy, I have come a long way since I started teaching. Now, I'm not saying this to be arrogant. I am saying this because, even these days, there are many times that I think that I just don't know anything. I'll take an amazing yoga class & think that there is no way my classes are possibly that inspiring or I'll read an article or yoga book, whatever it is and think, man, I am never gonna learn all this stuff! And no, it's not some sort of yoga teacher trying to be modest and ego-less banter in my head. I actually will think these things. 

But, looking back on the past few years through notes and old books, I realize that I have come a long way. I may not know everything, but I do know stuff. I have stuff to offer my students and that feels good. 

Til tomorrow...

Shanti,

Marcia