It's December 4th and I am writing almost a full month later. I wish I could spend the whole post justifying why I have not written, but that isn't necessary. It's human. I haven't been reading much, and I have been quite distracted with my life. My parents flew into Denver for Thanksgiving which was a real treat considering I almost never see my family. I come from an incredibly active family. I grew up playing sports in school, competing in every one as well, and on the weekends my family was either gardening, roller blading, and taking camping trips that always involved a strenuous hike. Half the time the only way my mom could get us up the mountain would be to hold a few Jolly Ranchers in her hand and once we noticed them dangling in front of us we would race up to them, make up for lost time :) So the moment they flew in we drove up to Red Rocks to get our work out in... never mind the altitude change and dehydration factor, it was beautiful so it didn't matter. That week, aside from the copious amounts of shopping we ended up doing, we ate a lot of really great food, my parents took their first hot yoga class, and we had a lovely nontraditional salmon Thanksgiving. It's nice having my parents around because it keeps me grounded. They have been married for 31 years and have done a fab job of keeping the family together. While I am here in Denver, no family, I get caught up in every element of my life, trying to make things work, how do I pay rent this month, what if my business (Thai Massage) isn't successful... all the downers that make you forget who you are. When I hang out with my family we tell story, remember the good times, laugh, and I realize that I am a happy healthy strong individual with a lot to offer. Life isn't so bad.
I think the concept of realizing that life isn't so bad comes from having compassion for yourself. Yesterday I took a Forrest class (my new addiction) at Root Yoga and my teacher was theming this idea of compassion the whole time....for two hours. But what a great reminder, right? The way she tied the theme into class was amazing. ACTIVATION. With every posture you come in to, full activation. Where can you have compassion for yourself and engage everwhere, fill your cup by not neglecting parts of your body. For me this translated directly to the feet. I have a tendency when I practice yoga to not practice what I teach. "Press through your big toe mound, ground down through all four corners of your feet." So I have found the solution through the Forrest method to lift and spread all ten toes in every posture. Warrior 1, Warrior 2, dancers, tadasana, bridge pose, everything. It has completely transformed not only my practice, but has also built this amazing internal self confidence and love. There are so many parts of the body that could be more fully activated in each pose. I recommend the next time you practice to lift your toes, press through your heels, and see what happens.
Activation builds compassion. Why? Because you are treating yourself to the gift of self love. It creates the desire to be more complete and fulfilled. Ana Forrest says that "holding on to anger, fear, or resentment can cause physical pain, but when we heal our emotional pain, our physical pain often subsides." This works both ways. Working on our physical pain through activation can heal our emotional pain and result in more compassion. Try it... see what happens.
