Someone walked out of my yoga class this morning.
Now I could take this personally and go down the thought process of believing it was because she thought my class was crap! Maybe she did. Though luckily I no longer need to beat myself up, thinking those kind of thoughts. I’m not denying that this is something that I would’ve taken deeply personally once upon a time, being triggered and unable to think about anything else, feeling really hurt. No doubt it would’ve triggered past feelings of shame and upset. 2018 has been a huge year of healing old wounds and hurt so rather than react from a past place, I was able to get curious with how I felt and quickly came to the conclusion that my style simply wasn’t for her (she said she wanted ‘a workout’ but I encouraged her to give it a go, she knew what she wanted and that I honour.)
Sure it upset me, but not because she walked out of a class I was leading, more because she felt unable to relax and allow herself to be still (I know others love it!). Sadly it seems society is becoming busier and busier and busier, to the point that people believe they are too busy to stop and be still and in the case of some (perhaps this was what was happening with the lady that walked out), they actually get bored being still or they are simply scared of stillness? I wonder. I will abandon the temptation to judge.
The reason I teach this slow and mediative style of yoga is because I know how important it is to slow down and restore our burnt out central nervous system.
Allowing stillness is something that I have had to practise. I am someone that is on the move all the time, whether it be mentally or physically, usually both! I realised a long time ago that to prevent overwhelm, burn out and episodes of severe mental illness I had to slow down and allow myself to ‘be’. It was a non-negotiable. It was self care. I had to allow myself to be in the moment, be still, to tune inwards and listen.
When we rush about we miss our intuition. We don’t hear the voice inside us that’s always there. We can’t listen to our wisdom. When we are in the pattern or habit of ‘doing’ we miss out on simply ‘being’. We are human-beings doing – that’s not how it’s meant to be! Yet we mostly seem to do it and as a consequence I believe these busy patterns we have create are at the root of our stress: aka our mental and physical ill health.
Alas I am learning to respect the individual choice in how someone lives their life even if stressed out, on the go, burn out and then drop is your kind of thing then enjoy that! But I’m not willing to see this as a healthy way to live life; I am on a mission to raise awareness of the benefits of stillness to enhance wellness and a state of well-being.
Love
Georgina xx