Balance, Joy, Contentment
Namaste. First off if you are reading this I’d just like to say thank you. From my heart to yours, I know time is precious and there is a lot of content out there you could be reading but you are choosing in this moment to read these words. I want to share a bit more on how I’ve been creating a daily lifestyle in which I feel balanced, joyful and content. I recently have gone through a lot of changes. All of which were conscious choices taking my life in a direction I wanted to go in. I became a Mama and we moved our family to my home of origin, Hawaii! It has always been my dream to raise my family in Hawaii and do work I am passionate about. I spent a long time following my passions and studying my Self (svadyaya) in order to discover my dharma or unique purpose for being here. It was through this journey of self study where I realized exactly what I want. And now that I have the life I want, I realize there is still work to be done. Inner work that is. For me this has taken the form of strengthening my body& mind, letting go of fear, and treating myself with kindness. Overall these workings are leading me into more and more time spent in joy, contentment, and peace.
Lets talk about strength training. I’m not going into the science of it, but more so the effect that feeling strong has on my overall attitude. When I strength train I feel like I am capable of doing anything. I tap into my inner strength. When I’m training I focus on my breath and my thoughts. I try to watch my thoughts and if I notice any negativity (I’m can’t do it, Ugh this is hard, etc) then I try to reframe my thoughts to more positivity (you got this, you are so strong, keep going, etc). Overtime I’ve noticed how my mindset has become more and more positive just through this mental practice I do while physically training.
Secondly, I’ve been working on letting go of fear. Lets just go ahead and say being an adult, being a human can be freaking scary. If you let it, the weight of the world will overtake you. You don’t have to try hard to find things all around you that will cause the fear within you to grow. I’ve experienced living in fear, and I’ve also experienced living in surrender. And the latter is so much lighter. It is through meditation where I am able to surrender that fear. Where I am able to let go and relax into stillness. Meditation is my time to connect to God. I have a very simple meditation routine that I do first thing in the morning and at night before bed.
Come to a comfortable seat.
Set my intention- to connect to my True Self, to connect with God
Breathe in, hold my breath for 6 seconds while tensing whole body, double exhale release- repeat a few rounds
Focus on my breath flowing in and out through the nose (try for 5 min)
Focus on a white light of energy flowing in through crown of the head down the spine. Focus on each energy center (chakras) as I breathe in, exhale follow the white light up the spine and out the crown of the head. (repeat for as long as I like). I imagine the white light is healing energy from God, connecting to all of my chakras and healing each energy center.
Focus on gratitude and all that I am grateful for in my life. End with a thank you prayer.
Lastly, I’ve been working on speaking to myself with more kindness. I once read about the 3 C’s : Criticism, complaining, and comparison. Our minds are constantly going, going, going. I’m grateful to yoga for helping me create some space in my mind for introspection. I often find myself watching the thoughts and just noticing if I am doing any of the 3 C’s. And an overall theme I have noticed with myself is how harsh and critical I can be of myself and others. More so on myself. I demand perfection and when I fall short I pick apart every little thing I did/said. I have been working diligently to spend less time even analyzing myself. Because any focus on self is self obsession and that is the ego running wild. So, I try to stop from focusing on myself or reframe what I’m thinking to something kinder. For example I often criticize my teaching skills after every yoga class I teach. So lately I’ve tried to either not think about the class afterwards and just move on to the next thing in my life ;Or if I find my mind criticizing, I try to reframe the thoughts to words of kindness. (example: you care about your students and you try to give the best of what you know, you spoke from your heart, you gave a great offering, etc.)
Overall these little tips and tricks have really been helping me to feel more contentment in my everyday life. I feel peaceful throughout my weeks and notice all the moments of joy. I hope you found something in these tips and they are able to help you as well. I’ll continue to share what I can! namaste