It's been a few weeks into Marrisa Campise's HuffPo Living/Ashley Koff Energy Makeover. Ashley has successfully weened her off her RedBull addiction, re-shaped her eating habits, and set her on the path to optimal health. Marissa is coming to yoga at Strala almost every day and making progress in "using what you need and relaxing what you don't." Sometimes it's ok not to kick up into a forearm stand, and stay and build strength in the preparation pose. All of this stuff spills over into our lives. We took a field trip to Good Morning America Health this week to report on Marissa's progress. Marissa's energy makeover schedule is jammed packed with activity.
I'm excited to see Marissa develop over the year as she shifts her habits away from destructive behavior and toward a healthy lifestyle. I wonder if in all the activity of her energy schedule if she has the time and space to breathe, enjoy the process, and let her body adjust naturally with time. Sometimes we put in a lot of good work but continue to move at a fast pace. It's hard to find balance, even in the process of working toward finding balance!
I met a woman at Strala yesterday who came in for class. She talked to me about an intense diet plan she was on and how she had lost 20 pounds in a couple months. She was pretty excited about her positive changes but also understood that things were happening a little too fast and had an instinct that life isn't sustainable on that fast pace. She was drawn to come to Strala so she could find space for herself, and allow her body to settle. Good instinct! Even in our efforts to become healthy we often get caught moving with anxiety and haste. Our bodies and our minds have their own timing that pay little attention to our cerebral desires. We can't force or expect things to change as fast as we want, but when we put our efforts in the direction of our intention and drop everything else like snow falling, things unfold with ease. When we work with efficiency time is irrelevant and things have space to develop even faster than we might expect.
Efficiency is a great secret that can drop us right into our ideal life path, but it is a hard one to practice, and something that takes constant maintenance and work.
Over-working gets less done. We all have experienced this. We can push ourselves to exhaustion but things get done with less attention and our bodies eventually break down. How we are in our bodies mirrors our lives. Fortunately we can practice living in our bodies how we want to live. When we bring awareness to our habits and tendencies we have taken the first step in change.
Try this de-stress yoga routine out the next time you need a break from your thoughts. It's designed to release tension in your body and mind to set you back on your path of efficiency and ease.