On forgetting and remembering. ..

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts the other day (Katie Silcox) and Katie was talking about when we pray. When we pray, whether that is to an actual Godhead or a general, please, please, please make X or Y happen or not happen, it is very rarely when everything is going great. It is usually when the shit is hitting the proverbial fan or we want to try to prevent said shit from hitting proverbial fan. Ya know, when we think we or someone we love may be sick or suffering in some way. Or we want to have not lost something we treasure. Or we want a job or partner that isn’t “ours” at that moment. In these times, we reach to our own personal Jesus.

Church, temple or yoga studio attendance goes way up in times of crisis - like natural disasters like hurricanes or man-made ones like 9/11 or personal ones like those mentioned above. We know this. And the stats support this. Not my point though. :)

I write this not as an appeal to pray, although feeling connected to something higher than you can be very grounding and helpful when you feel disconnected or fearful. But rather, this podcast made me think about how we tend to take things for granted until it is really obvious that we really shouldn’t. We care about taking care of our immune systems by taking lots of vitamins and eating healing foods when we are trying to fight off a cold. Other days, not so much. Until cold season comes around again. Then we do the things again. We take time off, rest, and read a book when our stress levels are so high that we just. can’t. anymore. We do said resting, beaching, and sleeping and then return back home to do the exact same over-working, over-doing, under-relaxing kind of thing until we get so exhausted and burned out that all we can do is hold out for another holiday yet again.

We decide we should meditate when our stress levels are so high that we can’t sleep, or can’t stop worrying or analyzing. We know we need to practice yoga and move when we have body pain, or an injury, or almost one.

I could give lots more examples but you see where I am going here. Same thing applies to getting proper sleep, eating well, not consuming too much caffeine/alcohol/sugar/choose your poison. The very thing which we know in our heart of hearts that is most important to keep our body singing and our mind as cool and calm as a cucumber is the very antidote to preventing the problem that we regularly struggle with. Just doin’ that thing on the regular rather than just during crisis.

We know what matters, until we temporarily forget what matters, until we are reminded why can’t forget it. :)

And. so. the. cycle. goes.

I had this experience recently, so I am reminded. I tend to move. A lot. And often too fast and not in the most mindful way. I did this last week and fell in my kitchen on wet floor. Tore a hamstring. Could hardly sit, walk or move for days. And all, to relearn the lesson to take my time, move less, and be present more. This lesson never seems to get old. And the reminders never too many.

This is why I do what I do… why I lead retreats (like the one coming up in Hydra, Greece May 24) to recharge your body and reconnect to self and spirit. And why I teach Ayurveda daily routines courses to help you to connect to your inner wisdom of caring for your body, and your mind, and your spirit. We all forget. And need to be reminded what it feels like to feel good, more or less every day. :) I like nudging. Here I am.. nudging.