Notes from Nina
Each weekend I send out the schedule for the following week along with a quick update on all things Yoga with Nina G
The Kindness of Tulips
“Kindness
Consider the tulip,
how long ago
someone’s hands planted a bulb
and gave to this place
a living scrap of beauty,
how it rises every spring
out of the same soil,
which is, of course,
not at all the same soil,
but new.
Consider the six red petals,
the yellow at the center,
the soft green rubber of the stem,
how it bows to the world.
How, the longer you sit beside the tulip,
the more you want to bow, too.
It is this way with kindness:
someone plants in someone else
a bit of beauty –a kind word, perhaps, or a touch,
the gift of their time or their smile.
And years later, in that inner soil,
that beauty emerges again,
pushing aside the dead leaves,
insisting on loveliness,
a celebration of the one who planted it,
the one who perceives it, and
the fertile place where it has grown.”
Dear Friends,
It’s tulip season and this poem just spoke to me. I wanted to share it with you.
We are intricately connected to each other and to the earth. As the tulips begin to peek through the soil, we start our transition into spring and summer. Our practice this week will ground us and help us to welcome Spring.
Thank you for all of the kindness that you plant in this world.
Love & kindness,
Nina G
BINGO!
Hi friends,
To those of you that are celebrating Easter or Passover this weekend, I hope that you were able to relax, recharge, and focus on the ritual. There is a noticeable change in energy when schedules and routines are disrupted. When we return to our ‘regularly scheduled programming’ we have a fresh perspective.
My daughter and son-in-law were at my home for the weekend (they usually attend my Wednesday night Zoom yoga class.) We were sitting around the kitchen table after lunch on Saturday and I joked that they should write my weekly newsletter for me. They immediately responded with a list of common words/phrases/activities from my Wednesday night class. A BINGO card, if you will.
It made me laugh to hear their take on what I always say - interesting to hear their perspective. Some things I say in all my classes, some are unique to Wednesday night. All are accurate! Here are a few of their observations...
It’s Wednesday night – this one is a reminder that we don’t need to overdo ANYTHING. Our yoga class should be a time to shift away from the constant go, go, go, and find a time to restore the body’s energy. We have permission not to push so hard. It’s Wednesday night...just relax!
Don’t pry – I say this when we are in a seated twist. I want to keep our spine and our sacroiliac joint safe and healthy. I say it on Wednesday night but also on Monday, Tuesday, etc. It’s a valid instruction and it bears repeating! Don’t force anything in yoga.
Be fussy – I always encourage this as we set up for our final relaxation pose. In a virtual yoga class, I can’t see your set up. If we were in person, I would be able to see your bodies resting in savasana and offer suggestions for deeper relaxation. I’d be fussy about it. Since I’m not there, it’s your job to be fussy and allow yourself to relax.
Tadasana Blanket – We use folded blankets a lot on Wednesday night. They help to support us as we rest. I have spent HOURS learning how to fold blankets properly for yoga. One fold that we use quite often is the TADASANA fold – a simple fold that gives you a long, thin, support. If you take Wednesday night yoga with me, you know how to fold it.
Zoom/technology Problems – Yep, even after two years of teaching on Zoom, there are still issues. When I first started on Zoom and something weird happened, it really rattled me. I’m getting better at taking it in stride now. Still have some learning to do...
Let the Glitter Settle – This is a classic that I say after we are resting in stillness (cf. March 20 newsletter). We move again slowly and try not to disturb the sense of calm and then we sit and allow any disturbance to settle.
BINGO! Those are some of the squares on their yoga card. I’m sure there are lots more. I'm just glad that we all can practice yoga together.
Love,
Nina G
Food, Fine Art & Yoga
Hi friends,
I love to cook and bake. It makes me so happy to be in my kitchen (especially on a rainy and miserable day like Saturday) and to make food to share with others. I get so excited when I make something that tastes good and is made from ingredients that I can identify. That feeling definitely nourishes my soul. My hope is that whatever I share with my friends/family nourishes their bodies and their souls as well.
I found this great quote by food writer Michael Pollan.
“Food is not just fuel. Food is about family, food is about community, food is about identity. And we nourish all those things when we eat well. ”
I think it’s fair to say that great art does that too. While I’m not an artist or a musician, walking through a museum or listening to good music nourishes me. The same thing happens when I read a great book or poem. I can get the energy that I need or I might find a sense of calm. It fuels me and it also connects me. I find a connection to a larger community. I know that there’s something bigger than just me out there.
To reframe Pollan’s quote…Fine art is not just fuel. Fine art is about family, fine art is about community, fine art is about identity. And we nourish all those things when we share fine art.
It’s kind of neat how that works.
And what about our yoga? (You knew I was going to go there!)
The physical part is obvious. We can stretch and move muscles in a way that isn’t part of our everyday routine. We can bring consciousness to our motion and learn more about our selves. Yoga can energize us and it can calm us. It fuels the body.
Yoga is also about community and connection. In the ‘before times’, when we used to practice together, we’d meet and catch up and then come into the stillness of the practice. We were sharing the same space, the same energy, and the same sense of connection to something greater than ourselves.
As we come to the second anniversary of Zoom yoga, I’ve been thinking about how our yoga practice has changed since March of 2020. Yes, there was a steep learning curve and we figured it out. We stretched and moved and found the peace in the silence, but there was a piece missing, the sense of community.
But those of you that persevered and kept coming back to class helped to recreate that sense of community. Those of you that have taken the time to read this (sometimes lengthy!) newsletter and send a reply have helped to recreate that sense of community as well. Even though we are separate and only able to connect in these different ways, your attention and your energy have made a difference. You have nourished me. Thank you. I hope that you feel nourished as well.
One last time with Pollan’s quote… Practicing yoga is not just fuel. Yoga is about family, yoga is about community, yoga is about identity. And we nourish all those things when we practice yoga.
Nourishing love,
Nina G
Let the Glitter Settle
Hi friends,
Here we are at the Spring Solstice. Our yoga practices this month have been preparing us for the longer days and increased warmth as we move from winter into spring. We are also at the two-year mark of pandemic living. Who knew?
If you’ve ever taken a restorative yoga class with me, or even just a yoga class with a restorative yoga pose in it, you’ve heard me say, “Let the glitter settle.” I usually say it when we’re transitioning from a pose in stillness. When we move from a pose that we’ve held in silence for a while, we move mindfully and slowly and then we sit for a few moments. The calm that we created in our stillness gets disrupted a bit, much like a snow globe full of glitter. Sitting still, letting the glitter settle, is a good way to regain that sense of calm before moving into another pose.
After two plus years of pandemic living, it feels to me like we're in the middle of a snow globe blizzard. Even as we hope to move out of our pandemic life, we have a conflict brewing on the edge of Europe. We move from one global trauma to the next with no space – no transition – in between. Will the glitter get a chance to settle?
I hope so. We can’t live in a constant state of anxiety – it doesn’t serve anyone, especially our own bodies. But we can’t just sit in a room and practice yoga and hope that all of the world’s problems will go away. We need to take right action to do what we can to fix problems larger than ourselves, and then we must also take care of ourselves.
Take right action – that means different things to everyone. In the case of the conflict in Ukraine, you may want to make a donation to an aid group. You may want to reach out to your elected officials and offer your voice. Do what is right for you. You are the only person who knows what that means. But if you take the time to do something positive, you may feel better.
And then come back to your mat. This is where we can care for ourselves. On the mat is where we can find those glimpses of calm and hope that can anchor us as our anxiety builds with each news report. This is why we practice. We return to our mats and we know that we can stretch and move and use our breath to change the way we feel. Those simple tools – the breath and movement – are all we need.
Yes, we seem to be trapped in a snow globe that’s being shaken again and again and again. While we can’t stop the shaking in the world around us, we can find a way to let the glitter settle within us.
Join me on your mat.
Love,
Nina G
P.S. Regarding right action: I am always amazed and impressed by the work of World Central Kitchen, an organization run by Chef José Andrés. My right action this week has been to send a donation to them. If you aren’t familiar with their work, check them out here.
In Like a Lion?
Hello dear friends,
Spring is in the air! We are experiencing warmer weather this weekend - it’s great to get outside and move around. While we all know that March weather can be crazy here in Illinois, the warmer temps offer us some hope for the blossoms of springtime.
Seen in the spruce forest at the arboretum.
We visited the arboretum again this week. We came upon the display above while walking through the spruce forest. I thought it was a positive use for the pinecones. It was a great day to be outside. A little too early to see any green shoots or buds, but you know that it’s just beneath the surface. You can really feel it. Spring is waiting to arrive.
What’s happening outside correlates with what’s happening inside our bodies as well. We are waking up the body to the new energy that’s out there – more sunshine, more warmth, more opportunity for movement. Don’t you feel that lift in spirits when the sun is out?
Sometimes it feels like it’s two steps forward and one step back (snow is expected here on Monday…), but eventually we will make our way out of winter and experience new growth and longer days.
How can our yoga practice serve us in this transition between the seasons? Well, we will be paying attention to our connection to the earth, grounding the body and re-rooting ourselves. We build our resilience so that we’re ready when the warmer winds blow. We’re grounded and secure. We will also work with simple flow sequences, bringing fluid motion into our joints and reducing the stiffness that comes with the cold or stillness.
So that’s the plan. Connection and fluid movement to help us feel rejuvenated and ready for the challenges ahead.
Please join me on your mat.
Love,
Nina G
Tiny Acts
“Tesser well. ”
Hello dear friends,
One of my favorite books in grade school was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle. It was my first exposure to time travel, a strong female protagonist, and fantasy worlds of the imagination. I still have a copy on my shelf and I still pick it up and browse through my favorite passages.
If you haven’t read it or don’t remember it, time travel in the book is done via tesseract – it’s described as a wrinkle in the fabric of time. Meg Murry (our protagonist) has to save the universe from incredible evil. She’s just an awkward high school student. She’s smart but she doesn’t have any superpowers. And yet she’s the only one that can save the world. Unfortunately, tesseract travel isn’t easy for her.
When I first read this book, Meg’s character really resonated with me. How could she possibly be the one to save the planet from unspeakable evil? She was just one person and the job was just too big. But a few other characters in the story rallied to her support and - spoiler alert – LOVE CONQUERED EVIL.
So, without a lot of fanfare or special powers, Meg saves the universe. The book gave me hope. I wanted to believe that I could do the same.
Time passed, things got busier, the world got harder. How can I possibly fix everything? But deep inside, I still have that nugget of hope. 10-year-old me still believes that I can change the world.
About 10 years after A Wrinkle in Time was published, L’Engle published her writing journals. This quote was inside:
“I do not think that it is naïve to think that it is the tiny, particular acts of love and joy which are going to swing the balance.”
It seems to me that L’Engle wrote Wrinkle knowing that the task at hand is hard, knowing that we are but mere humans, knowing that the evil is out there and that we are the only source of conquering it. But she still thought that we could. Tiny acts will move us forward.
So that’s the yoga that I’ll be teaching this week. Practicing yoga is a tiny act of love and kindness. We are kind to ourselves and then the positive effects of our practice ripple out into the community and the world around us.
We are a small, yet mighty group. We don’t have superpowers, but we can help each other. I do believe that we can swing the balance.
Join me on your mat.
Nina G
Back to Yoga
“Our lives, just as they are, plain and simple, are filled with miracles. Nothing special, nothing holy; or rather, everything special, everything holy.”
Hello dear friends,
I’m back in Illinois and ready to teach some more yoga!
We’ll follow our usual schedule this week and, since Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, we’ll bring our focus to our heart.
Nothing too special, just our regular yoga classes.
But because we are practicing together, I know it will be special and holy.
I look forward to seeing you again.
Love, love,
Nina G
Daily Mindfulness & Miracles
“Just be. Just being in the moment in this place is the deepest practice of meditation.”
Hello my friends,
This week we learned that the Vietnamese monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh died. Thich Nhat Hanh’s key teaching is that, through mindfulness, we can learn to live happily in the present moment. Being in the present moment is the only way to cultivate peace both in one’s self and in the world.
Thich Nhat Hanh taught me about mindfulness and meditation through his many publications. His approach to meditation was eye-opening for me.
I have a few of Hanh’s books and I’ve borrowed many of them from the library. One of my favorites on my shelf is a little book called Mindful Movements: Ten Exercises for Well-Being. It has childlike illustrations and is a series of 10 easy movements that we tie to our breath. If you’ve been practicing yoga with me for a while, chances are good that we’ve done this sequence together. It's a simple but powerful practice. In the introduction to this book he says "If we bring mindfulness into every aspect of our life, we cannot help but experience life's miracles."
His teaching is accessible. We can all practice mindfulness just by doing what we do in our daily routine. We can be mindful as we walk outside, chop onions, or even drink our morning coffee. We don’t have to sit on a cushion and meditate or navel gaze for hours on end. No, mindfulness should be an integral part of our everyday lives. By actively working towards being more mindful, we can create a more peaceful environment around us. As more of us work together in this way, that's when we experience the miracles.
Such a powerful concept!
Join me on your mat as we practice being in the moment.
Love and love,
Nina G
Transformation
“Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”
Dear Friends,
When I step on my yoga mat in the morning, I’m just waking up. Yoga in the morning helps to bring movement back into my body, making me more fluid and flexible. My mind wakes up and I’m ready to begin my day. I start with small movements and expand into my practice with my breath and my motion. Yoga prepares me for my day ahead.
If I step on the mat in the afternoon, it’s usually because I’m out of sorts. Something is off mentally or emotionally (I did a lot more afternoon yoga when I worked outside the home!) In this case, I’m looking for yoga to help me smooth out the edges and bring me to a sense of equilibrium. I often start big here, trying to release the tension or the issue that has a hold on me and then I can slow things down. Yoga brings me back to ‘normal’.
When I step on my mat in the evening, I’m looking to release the busy-ness of the day and change gears to allow my body to rest and restore. I let go of the tension and welcome in the softness that yoga offers. Yoga allows me to release the stressors of the day and renew.
All of this is yoga.
Yoga is transformational. It changes us. Remember the first time you fell in love with yoga? It felt magical to me.
But those changes aren't magic. There’s lots of science behind what we do. We are training our nervous systems to relax by managing the breath and by combining that breath with our mindful movements.
As we continue to practice, we begin to know and understand the changes. We can expect that release of tension or that increase in energy because we've been here before. And then we return and do it all over again.
That's how the transformation begins...in our regular practice. Noticing the small changes that occur while we're on our mat.
Join me.
Nina G
So Many Lights!
Hello Dear Friends,
Happy New Year!
I had a splendid time these past two weeks - relaxing and visiting and cooking and shopping and seeing lots of lights. Just driving around the neighborhood is a spectacular event. So many lights!
We ended up going to many different lights shows and I probably took a hundred photos all told, but not a single one conveys the experience. It was dark outside. It was cold. On nights like that, I’m usually found huddled in my chair in the living room knitting something warm. Instead, I was outside, bundled up in many layers. I really wanted to see these lights. I paid money to see the lights!
And it was totally worth it.
Some of the light displays that we saw were just sublime. No soundtrack, just silence and beauty. Others were over the top commercial - reindeer and Santa and Christmas trees flashing in time to music. It didn’t matter to me. I liked them all.
Those lights poked holes through the darkness. They got me out of my chair and into the outdoors. They gave me glimpses of hope for tomorrow.
And maybe tomorrow will be sublimely beautiful and calm or maybe it will be raucous and noisy but whatever it is, I know it will have more light.
There’s light in the silence and calm. There’s light in the noise and activity. In our practice this month we will explore all of those opportunities to find the light.
With light and love,
Nina G
(photos by N Sigmund)
Turning Towards the Light
“What to Do in the Darkness
Go slowly
Consent to it
But don’t wallow in it
Know it as a place of germination
And growth
Remember the light
Take an outstretched hand if you find one
Exercise unused senses
Find the path by walking it
Practice trust
Watch for dawn.”
Hello my friends,
We passed by the shortest day of the year this week.
We're headed into the light. We can watch for the dawn together.
Love,
Nina G
P.S. No classes this week. I'll see you on January 3rd!
Things to watch when you're not watching Netflix or Disney+ or hulu or...
Hello my friends!!
There’s lots of information to share this week.
1. An all-new chair yoga video was released last Sunday on my YouTube channel. This one focuses on releasing tension in the head, neck, and shoulders. Click here to get started.
As a reminder, the videos on my YouTube channel are free to all. If you know of anyone that might benefit from a chair yoga practice, please share this link with them.
2. I have another video coming out soon in response to requests for the sequence that I often do when I return home from travelling. It’s called “Coming Home” and will be done completely on the floor on our mats. Look for an announcement about this new video next week.
3. In other video news…
I’ve fielded a few questions this week about my companion website: Age Well, Be Well. I started that site in early 2021 along with a great Pilates teacher, Erica Oshona. We created a series of Pilates and yoga videos that anyone can do. Our first series focused on the four pillars of healthy aging: balance, strength, agility and flexibility. We created eight 30-minute practices - 4 Pilates videos and 4 yoga videos.
We all realize that as the weather starts to get colder here in the upper Midwest, our outdoor exercise options start to dwindle. I don’t mind walking when it’s 32°, but 32° with high winds, precipitation and 6” of snow on the ground just isn’t as much fun! However, we know that we need to keep active despite the weather.
That’s why Erica and I decided to expand our Age Well, Be Well video series.
This fall we released 8 more videos. These are shorter (15 – 20 minutes) and again are divided among both yoga and Pilates. We focused on different areas of the body this time, but the videos have the same premise: we all can practice yoga and Pilates to support us in our efforts towards healthy aging.
Each video series is sold separately. Once you complete the payment process, you’ll have unlimited access to the series and can practice all winter long.
Check out the website. If you have any questions, drop me an email.
Gift of the Darkness
“The darkness itself offers the gift. Each day, the darkness comes sooner, comes deeper, comes blacker than ink. It draws us in, into our homes, yes, but more so into our souls. ”
Hello my friends,
Here in the Northern hemisphere, we’re at that point on the calendar when the world outside is telling us to slow down and hibernate. The daylight is shorter, the temperature is cooler, and we are reminded to turn inward. Pause, reflect, and connect with your higher self.
On the other hand, our culture is telling us to pick up speed and get stuff done. Shop, decorate, bake, ship, celebrate. It can be a lot and it’s definitely overwhelming.
Chances are good that we’re all living somewhere in between these two extremes. How can we find a way to process and balance those two conflicting messages?
I’m gonna go with yoga.
My classes this month will focus on the deep rest that we want to find, that we need to find - that we must find - if we are to live well. We won’t just lie on our mats for 60 minutes (although that’s not a bad idea…) but we’ll work to identify how we feel, release the tension that is resident in the body, and move the nervous system towards calm.
Sounds like a plan.
Join me on your mat.
Thanksgiving Gratitude
“Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given, gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us. ”
Hello my friends!
I hope that you had a wonderful weekend with family and friends. It's always fun to have a slightly different rhythm in our days. And then there is the comfort of returning to familiar patterns as well.
Roll out your mat and join me this week as we continue our exploration of gratitude.
Patience & Fortitude
Hello dear friends!
I’m back and I’m ready for some yoga – I hope that you are too!
The past 10 days have been a whirlwind of fun, love, family, friends, travel, and excitement. After the wedding, my husband and I flew to NYC and saw a few great shows, ate some fine meals, and just generally enjoyed ourselves. It’s something that we hadn’t done in a while and we were happy to get away and take a break. I am so thankful that we could do that.
While in NYC, we visited the New York Public Library (reminder – I love libraries!). It’s a grand old building with beautiful reading rooms, marble staircases, and two large lion statues flanking the front of the building. The lions are stately, projecting a sense of calm. They are seated, watching over pedestrians as they walk by on 5th Avenue. They arrived on the scene in New York when the library was first dedicated in 1911. When they were installed, the lions were named after the two major contributors to the library, Astor and Lenox.
For the next 20 years, Leo Astor and Leo Lenox watched over New Yorkers during the Gilded Age. However, during the Great Depression, Mayor LaGuardia renamed the lions. He wanted them to be an inspiration to New Yorkers as they worked through the economic challenges facing the city and the country. To this day, the lions are known by the names that LaGuardia gave them:
Patience & Fortitude.
Patience - the ability to remain calm and not become annoyed when dealing with problems or with difficult people
Fortitude - strength of mind that enables a person to encounter danger or bear pain or adversity with courage
I took this photo of Fortitude. He looks pretty strong.
Almost one hundred years later, the nation and the world have changed, and yet so much is still the same. Human beings are experiencing fear and anxiety similar to that felt during the Great Depression, but this time it’s on a global level. We’re frightened. The path ahead is uncertain. In the midst of all of that uncertainty, we still have our breath.
One inhale and one exhale.
And just like that, we're closer to the end of the dark tunnel.
Let’s be calm and stately like those lions.
Patience and fortitude, my friends. We’ve got this.
Love,
Nina G
All About the Love
Hello dear friends,
The mural that you see above was on the building across from the church where my daughter was married this past weekend.
It's all about the love.
It's the only way we can change the world.
Love, only love,
Nina G
Linger in Gratitude
Hello dear friends,
I was back at the Arboretum this week. Friday was gorgeous - it was cold in the morning, but sunny and beautiful. I bundled up, we got there early, and we walked the loop that we always do. This spot spoke to me. It beckoned me to take notice.
So I did.
Last week, when we turned the calendar page over to November, I told you how my class focus in November turns to gratitude. Having Thanksgiving on the calendar at the end of the month is a nice excuse to practice our gratitude. There's never a bad time to be grateful, November is a nice reminder for all of us.
When we can take the time to practice gratitude, it allows us to leave the mind and move into the heart. We stop 'thinking' about those things for which we are grateful and we begin feeling them. And maybe, just maybe, it gives us a better understanding of our connection and interdependence on each other and the natural world as well.
The trees at the arboretum are glorious this time of the year. If I had gone on an overcast day, perhaps I wouldn't have felt that same pull. It was the connection of the sun, the shadows, the leaves, that bench, and the path ahead that gave me pause. I'm glad that I was there and that I was a part of that connection.
I'm thankful.
Take a moment in your week ahead to find your own connection. It might be while on your yoga mat or it might be when you're outside. Don't overthink it, just connect. Let the feeling wash over you like the sunshine on a crisp day. And then stay with that feeling.
Linger in gratitude.
Changing Times
“Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis.
- Times are changed; we also are changed with them.”
Hello dear friends,
Do you believe it? November is tomorrow. I keep feeling like I’m stuck in amber, unable to move forward at all and then I realize that we’re hurtling towards the end of the year. How is it possible to feel stuck and moving out of control at the same time? These times are strange.
In the meantime, there is so much to news to share. Here’s what’s happening over the next few weeks as we begin our race towards 2022.
In November our focus will be on Love & Gratitude. Gratitude is always a big part of my practice, especially as we enter this season of Thanksgiving. In addition to that, we have a family wedding in 2 weeks (!) so we will celebrate love as well. After the wedding, I’ll take the week of November 15th off. Don’t forget that you have access to the videos from our Yoga-versary celebration. You can still practice yoga.
I’ll be back the week of November 22 and we will definitely have class on the Wednesday night (November 24th) before Thanksgiving. Please take the time to join me. Friends or family are always welcome to join us too!
In December we will turn our focus to deep rest and relaxation. My experience as a yoga teacher has been that no one comes to yoga class in December even though we all complain that we are stressed out. It’s tough, I know. Please be kind to yourself and join me for classes that will explore ways to allow the body to rest and restore. It’s important to give our bodies, and our nervous systems, the chance to recover from external stressors. Let’s make sure that we take the time to do that.
I will be sharing the holidays with family, so there will be no classes the weeks of December 20th and 27th. Don’t forget that you have access to the videos from our Yoga-versary celebration. You can still practice yoga. (sounds familiar…)
We’ll be back at it on January 3rd!
Lots to share. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you of changes as the dates get closer.
Times are always changing. My yoga practice helps me through these transitions with grace, ease, and awareness. It is my hope that it serves you as well.
With love and gratitude,
Nina G
Supply Chain?
If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. - Thich Nhat Hanh
Hello dear friends,
As you know, I’m always looking around for signs from the universe about what to say in my newsletter and what to teach in my yoga classes. Of course, the only thing that’s been in the news for the past 2 weeks is supply chain. That’s all I hear about. Supply Chain. I’m sorry, that eyeliner you want isn’t available: supply chain. Order all of your Christmas gifts early: supply chain. You won’t be able to replace that washing machine for months: supply chain. Can’t find shoes for your daughter’s wedding? You guessed it, supply chain.
Not exactly the sign I was looking for. It’s hard to write a yoga newsletter about economics.
I went out for a walk instead. Friday was a gorgeous, crisp day and it was great to be outside. I started moving and as I was walking, I passed those two beautiful leaves that you see in the photo above. I saw their beauty and I walked right by them.
Then I turned around and went back and picked them up off the ground.
They really are amazing - the color, the symmetry, the grace. The photo does not do them justice. Their presence on sidewalk in front of me was exactly what I needed to see and it is exactly why I needed to turn around and look again.
And then I realized that there was my newsletter.
Yep, everything is delayed and backlogs abound – supply chain issues are real. There’s absolutely nothing that I can do to solve them though. And railing at the wind doesn’t seem to fix anything. Supply chain issues? I just have to be patient and wait. In the meantime, there's some incredible beauty in the world. I have seen it. I just need to turn around and look again.
Those two leaves stopped me in my tracks. They forced me to focus and slow down. They allowed me to see the wonder right in front of me. I could let go of worry about supply chain and revel in the beauty of the present moment.
One of my favorite Fall activities is something I call “kicking the leaves”. I love to go outside in the park and walk through the leaves, kicking them as I go. It is invigorating and energizing. I find it very relaxing. But I haven’t been able to go out and do it yet this October. As I understand it, we’re a little bit behind on the leaves changing color and falling this year. Here in Chicagoland we’re experiencing warmer and drier weather than usual, so everything is mostly green and very few leaves have fallen. Luckily for me, I happened on those two beauties in the photo. I wouldn't have seen them if all of the other leaves had fallen though. I was fortunate, but I'll have to be patient and wait a little bit longer for serious leaf kicking.
Sounds like a supply chain issue to me!
Our classes this week take a playful look at yoga. We’ll do some spooky Halloween yoga - having some fun while releasing tension and anxiety.
Please join me on your mat.
What’s Today?
I've been busy this weekend. It was nice to see the sun again and get outside. I ended up going into the Loop twice over the weekend and I wasn't even running in the marathon!
I did stop in the Art Institute briefly - we were on our way to a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert across the street. There is a new Barbara Kruger exhibit in the museum and all over Chicago as well. It's bold, it's quite loud and there's bound to be some piece of it that speaks to you.
This one was talking to me.
As I said, I was only in the museum briefly, but her work certainly caught my eye. I haven't done my research on what she meant by all of that - I just let the words and the visuals play in my head.
Words are powerful. They are big and bold and playful and formidable. Maybe that's what Kruger is trying to portray in her artwork. I have lots of options for today. I have a choice. How do I want to spend my day?
For me, it starts with baby steps. I'm sometimes afraid to try something new and big - to work on the edges of what I already know. I always want perfection, so it becomes easy to get stuck in the rut of everyday pandemic living and not even try. However, maybe I should dip my toe in and try something new. If that works, perhaps I go a little deeper next time? Yeah, it's scary and a lot of work but it's also invigorating and exciting. What would happen if I took the risk to do something that wasn't perfect but was headed in that general direction?
Big words...
The emojis at the bottom of the display all make me smile. Face it (pun intended), I go through that whole range of emotions every day. I think we all do. I want to spend more time as the happy face in sunglasses and less time as the face with the sticking-out tongue.
And those are the choices that we make every day. How can I approach today and make a difference? What can I do to start something new, to create something better, to let go of the fear, to explore all of the possibilities available to me? And when it's all over, at the end of the day, have I spent more time as the happy face in sunglasses emoji or the sticking-out tongue emoji?
On our mats, it starts in silence. No words. We listen to the body, to the mind, to the spirit, and then we can learn about our day.
What's today for you?