What me? Worry?

I recently received a very interesting gift. It's a small hand carved yogi. It's called a "weeping yogi." Hand carved by the people of Bali, it's meant to be a symbol for meditation. The Balinese believe that you should share your sorrows and worries with this little yogi as he willingly accepts his role in life to shoulder the sorrows and worries of others. Wouldn't you know, I got it just in time as things arrived in my life to worry about! How fortunate!

The little yogi got me thinking about the power of superstitions. As this new year approaches, it reminds me of another one. On the first day of every month, the first thing you are to say upon waking up, before you utter a word is, "Rabbit, Rabbit" and you will have good luck for the whole month. A friend told me about this superstition many years ago and I always try to remember to say it. Do I know if it works? Not really. But on some level it makes me feel good to give it a shot. You can read more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_rabbit

As this New Year's day approaches, with all the pressure inspired by our culture and the media especially to "make a resolution to ______ ( fill in the blank) it seems almost silly to lean on these superstitions to try to create positive change in your life. But ultimately, it should be whatever you want that inspires you to make change. Tie a string around your finger, don't step on cracks in the sidewalk, post sticky notes in your home with positive sayings, create a vision board... these are all just some ideas focused on generating the energy for change.

As far as worry, it's just human nature to worry. It really does not serve us. Worry is just a way of our expressing fear at the idea of losing something or someone. Loss of health, loss of love, loss of money.. these all are the core of worry. If we can take one lesson from our friend Buddha, it's the idea of non-attachment. Easy to say, hard to do. Live life attached to nothing and you will have no worries. Maybe. Maybe not. But live your life with the abandon of a child and you will know joy. And everyone can use a little joy in their life.

Have a wonderful New Year.

Namaste.

Take a bath!

I went to my sweetie's parent's home yesterday afternoon for a visit. Truth be told, we'd been on the driving range hitting balls in the cold (golf is an outdoor sport, right?) and when we arrived a bit early for dinner, his mom whisked me off and before I knew it, I was soaking in their big jacuzzi bathtub. She's a real sweetheart and her motherly advise to "soak in a hot tub" sounded like the perfect post-cold-golf medicine. And boy, was it. I honestly can say it's been years since I have taken a bath (my condo only has a shower) and I could have easily fallen asleep in the tub. I lingered for about 20 minutes and when I got out and we relaxed over dinner, I must say I have never felt better.

It got me thinking as I was teaching this morning and was relaying this sentiment how many things are accessible to us where the payoff is huge and we can feel so much better but the effort we need to expend is pretty small. Taking a bath, walking outside, hugging a dog, spending time with a child. Taking a yoga class, going for a run, doing any kind of exercise. Reading a good book, taking a deep breath, sitting in stillness for 10 minutes with your eyes closed. These things are natural medicine for your body. You don't have to take a pill, buy a lot of equipment and it's not complicated. But yet, we always try to make life so complex and we never take the time to do the things that would allow us to feel great.

If you have a tub, take a bath. If you don't, take a minute and think about what makes you feel good. Then, do it.

Wherever you go, there you are

I read today in the paper that Oprah was dismayed to admit that she has hit 200 pounds. Dear god. She reported that despite dropping to 160 several months ago, she has been struggling with her thyroid, developed an aversion to exercise and just started eating whatever she wanted, knowing that eventually it would catch up with her.


It's funny how we sometimes think that when you have money (and who has more money than Oprah?!) you don't have the same old regular problems that the rest of us have. I sometimes look at the movie stars and the people the media chases and think wistfully that they must not struggle with the same image issues as the rest of us. "They have access to the best personal trainers, best nutritionists and certainly enough money to buy great clothes and go on wonderful vacations to exotic locations," I would think.

But at the end of the day, guess what? Money can't buy you motivation. It can't guarantee you lose weight. It can't ensure you eat right every day. It can't get you up off the couch to exercise. It can't give you the confidence to make the right choices about what to do with your free time. And really, these are all the same core issues that we each deal with every day, regardless of how much money we have.

There's a great book by the mind/body expert, Jon Kabat-Zinn called "Wherever you go, there you are." It's a comment on the fact that no matter how far you run, how far you try to hide, your issues will still be with you. I remember in the movie "Pretty Woman," at the end, when Richard Gere's character tries to tell Julia Roberts' character that while he can't really commit to her in a real way, he'll take care of her, buy her a home, buy her clothes and see her whenever he can. "It'll get you off the street," he says to her. "That's just geography," she says back. She realizes that until she digs deep down and attacks the real issues inside her, it won't matter where she lives, or what she wears, or how much money she has. Because "wherever she goes, there she'll be."

Oprah hopefully will realize the same thing and soon.

We all have these things inside us that we keep running up against time and time again. And the older we get, we wonder if we'll ever break the patterns we've established. Patterns are like the concentric rings inside a tree; you cut a tree down and you see inside the concentric circles that tell the story of it's life. But we always have the power to change and to make positive changes in our life.

I see people in my yoga classes all the time and when they take their first downward dog, I start to get a sense of who they are. Without words, I watch as they move through their practice. I get an idea of if they're confident, if they're tentative, if they're strong, if they're passive. I get an idea of their optimism, their ability to learn and be open-minded. And time and time again, I am amazed at the power of the human spirit to try, to make an effort, to continue to push oneself, despite challenge. And it gives me faith. That we all have it inside us to make positive changes and turn over a new leaf. And all it takes is that first step.

Be well.