Morning Musings - Allowing Resistance to flow into Acceptance

This morning, I got up with the rise of the Sun, rolled out my Yoga mat and flowed freely. To be honest, it is rare that I free flow these days; that might surprise you, as a Yoga teacher but, if I’m getting really candid, I find that my mind gets in the way a lot of my capacity to flow freely, despite the fluctuations of the mind* (*we’ll get back to this later). Now, this is something with which I battled for quite some time. There have been times where I’ve forced myself past it; times where I was convinced that it was Resistance pulling me away from a self-led practice when it was, in fact, all this time, nothing that needed to be over philosophised.

Through over eight years of Yoga practice, this is something that I have only realised and accepted this year. When I say that it is something with which I have found acceptance, I truly mean it. I feel no shame towards myself, no resistance towards my own practice, no inward burning to change how I practice.

And so, when I now feel that urge to roll out my mat and guide myself through a Yoga practice, it feels like such a blessing. I don’t second guess it, it doesn’t feel like a burden and, most of all, I can be totally present in my practice; my mind is calm - its fluctuations coming from their tidal wave, crescendo-ing into a soft, gentle breath as they dissipate and flow throughout my entire body, transmuting into the air around me as my Soul, too, moves.

So, my free flows might be one in a blue moon; they may burst upon me when I am softening into the creative inner autumn of my Luteal phase, or it may arrive like a download of bright white light one single time in a whole year, which I have no choice but to take upon. But, in these times, in my newfound acceptance, in the trust of my journey, these practices whether they become ten minutes of soulfully deep breathing or fifty minutes of energy awakening… One thing that I can be sure of is that it will be a practice which transmutes time. And it all comes from a moment of acceptance.

So, back to the calming the fluctuations of the mind… This is actually one of the Yoga Sutras, written by Patanjali - considered the father of modern yoga.

“Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodha” - Yoga is the calming of the fluctuations of the mind.

And this is really what acceptance is all about, too.And it is a quote that, alone, shows us how Yoga is not “simply” a physical practice, nor is it merely a practice that connects us from root to crown. You may be thinking - well, what could be more profound than that? You’d be right, to some degree, however what it truly, beautifully, wholly shows… Is that Yoga just is. You are practicing Yoga right now. Even if you are vitally unaware of the incessant fluctuations plaguing the mind that has become your autpilot. For as long as you are alive and breathing, you are a Yogi, because you have the capacity to come back to your centre, as a single decision, that is planted in the midst of your Consciousness, that takes a second, some days, long months or a lifetime to arrive there. The funny thing that we can’t really comprehend is, we are all actually already there. We just need a little nudge to return.

Love, blessings and light,

Claudia.

I’d love to also remind you that my upcoming workshop on June 19th is also here to help you come from chaos into calm. Check it out here and book your space for the price of a couple of coffees… The best part being that what we will learn together in this workshop will give you the energy of those two very coffees without any of the side effects - a way to feel energised from within, without extracting or outsourcing the energy that you already harbour within you from elsewhere and creating an underlying sense of calm. No more chaos; no more extremities; no more… But finding your energy through cultivating inner calm.

Can’t wait to see you there!

Bye for now ~