Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy and Dopey....Sassy, Worn-Out, Snarky, Exuberant, Sad, Relaxed....if I missed any feel free add them on.
To quote Timber Hawkeye (I think that's his real name) author of Buddhist Bootcamp "You can't calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass".
How do you learn to calm yourself.....that's where the magic of yoga comes in. Before we proceed I feel we need to have a little bit of clarification first. In the Western world when we hear the word yoga we think that it's all about the physical practice (Asana), and that's it. But in reality the word Yoga (which means to join or yoke) encompasses a whole lot more. Meditation, breath work (Pranayama), chanting, study of spiritual texts (Swadhyaya). I may have mentioned this before in previous blogs but the importance of it is worth mentioning again and again.
What the true essence of yoga does is help give you the tools to calm yourself so can get through the storms of life that are inevitable. I have been reading the book "The Five Things We Cannot Change...and the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them" by David Richo. He lists the 5 things we can't change as:
- Everything changes and ends.
- Things do not always go according to plan.
- Life is not always fair.
- Pain is part of life.
- People are not loving and loyal all the time.
When I first read them I said to my self "no duh!" and then I was instantly reminded of my reaction the first time I heard the first of Buddhas' Four Noble Truths...the first being Life is Suffering. It was the same reaction "no duh!". But then Buddha then goes on to share with us The Eight Fold Path to end suffering, he gives us the tools.
We need guidelines, we need the right tools to help us calm ourselves through the storms, the suffering in our lives. Not really into Buddha, that's OK, read Mr. Richo's book. Learn breathing techniques, learn to meditate (both by the way are suggested in Mr. Richo's book). Read Mr. Hawkeye's book. Come and join us a Santohsa Yoga on the 3rd Sunday night of each month to learn how to meditate or just re-charge the practice you may already have. It's really not as weird as you may think. Learn how to stop feeling as if you are alone lost at sea and your life raft has a hole in it. Look around you, ask for help and guidance.Come to a yoga class and discover it so much more than getting a strong core or yoga butt. Stop the madness!
I could suggest so many different ways to help you calm yourself and not have to become so different personalities to get through your day, which can be soooo exhausting. But you have to want to change, you have really want it, you have to believe that you have the capability to change, which we all do. To quote Anais Nin "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom"
Take that first big step, you will never look back.....and most importantly don't forget to breathe.
