Embracing the Flow :: Aligning with Place

Everything in the universe is pure energy, pure light and pure vibration. This is not a radical or esoteric concept: we know via modern physics that everything in the physical world is, at its essence, comprised of electrons and neutrons, or pure energy. So we understand that everything is imperceptibly vibrating at all times at a certain frequency. Whether or not we know this, we feel it. We call it gut instinct. It happens all the time when we meet people, often times we know right away whether or not the other person is a vibrational match. It's a strong sense of knowing that we feel in our core. As I drove into my personal sanctuary Sunday night, in the mountains of Southern Idaho, I was thinking about how powerful vibrational alignment can be with place as well. Just like people, places have their own vibrational frequency, and sometimes our gut instinct or awareness of vibrational alignment, creates an opportunity for connection.

Like many Seattleites, I grew up coming to Sun Valley on vacation, and I always loved it, but I was visiting as a child on someone else's agenda, not as an autonomous adult. In my late high-school/early college years, my parents traded in their skis for their clubs and Sun Valley fell off of the radar. My junior year in college I fell in love with a world-class ski racer and reconnected with Sun Valley. Every relationship, every connection we create has a purpose and a lesson to teach, there are no accidents, and I honestly believe that my ski racer came into my life simply to re-connect me to these mountains.

As I was driving up HWY 20, I remembered my first drive back here as an adult at age 21: I could remember exactly where we pulled off of the road, I could smell the air same as it was 15 years ago and see the same tone of light on the mountains. I could feel the crispness of the cool mountain air and see how the elevation and dry air create a visual acuteness and austerity that we just don't see amidst our Seattle humid marine layer. The reason the memory is so clear is that I was having a moment of awareness: I don't know how to describe these amazingly powerful moments of connection in life that we all have, but I could feel an awesome sense of knowing that in some way I was coming home.

While my relationship with said ski racer crashed and burned, my relationship with Sun Valley has persevered. In so many ways, Sun Valley has created my adult identity: it was here that I discovered my pure love of the mountains and being outside, which lead to years of glacier climbing and avid hiking. It was here that I learned to love mountain biking and that my own skiing advanced from that of recreational skier to competitive ski racer. It was here that I learned that there is nothing I love more than hours alone, outside, up high with my heart pumping and my hair on fire. It was through my connection to the mountains that I learned that when our physical bodies work really hard with a singular purpose, like getting up the hill, we can enter a trance like state of Dharana (singluar focus). We fall into a rhythm with our movements and our breath and the rest of the world falls away. With this clarity of purpose and intensity of effort we pranify (energize) the body and purify the mind. This has influenced the way I teach: in challenging asana classes were looking for those moments when the entire physical body is awake and alive, focused, and working while the mind is clear and present to this effort: moments where we're so engaged in our practice that we achieve Dharana and the world falls away. It is in the challenge that a lot people find this sense of release. And of course this makes obvious the reason for the studio's name--Mountain Flow Yoga.

Ironically many of my major life events have unfolded here as well: while in Sun Valley with the ski racer, my future husband and I connected for the first time on the back deck of Lefty's (a local dive). He told me he loved me here sealing our fate. My first child was conceived here and I discovered my second pregnancy while here. Weird? No, there are no accidents nor coincidences in this universe: the fact that all of these major life events unfolded here was simply a clear indication of my vibrational alignment and synchronicity with this place.

So now here I am 15 years later. Driving in I stopped on 20 and got out of the car simply to smell the desert sage and feel the crispness of the dry mountain air: I've spent the last two days exhausting and challenging my body while exhilarating my mind. After hours alone, on the hiking and mountain biking trails (heart pumping and hair on fire!), I stretch out my sore and aching muscles with a little Yoga--a little pure Mountain Flow.

Namaste

Embracing the Flow :: Living Uninhibitedly

We waste so much time worrying about what others think of us. And it really is a waste of time: first of all, they're likely not thinking about us much at all and secondly, we're unlikely going to be able to change their opinions of us if they are giving us much attention. Self-evaluation based on other people's opinions of us propels us into a state of inhibition and fear. We mask who we really are to conform because of the fear of rejection. "To be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive -- the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans. We have learned to live our lives trying to satisfy other people's demands. We have learned to live by other people's points of view because of the fear of not being accepted and not being good enough for someone else."*

Letting go of inhibition and self-evaluation based on others is essential to embracing the flow and cultivating a joyful life. The studio is such an incredibly safe place to practice dropping inhibition. Getting onto your mat and embracing the flow requires us to let go of both physical and mental rigidity. We have to let go of a little self-control simply to move freely in the flow—when we do this, the asana start to flow through us like a dance

In the modern Western world, we've let go of ritual dance, but uninhibited movement has long been essential for human connection and celebration. This movement releases stagnant energy, connects us to the systems of the body and connects us in a flow with those around us. In a very safe way, our Asana practice re-creates this ritual dance. This is actually my favorite thing about teaching Groove Yoga Flow (a dance-like Asana flow with loud modern music), I get to watch the transformation as people drop their inhibition, move freely and joyfully and often with giant smiles on their faces.

So we come to the mat and we practice moving freely without judgment of ourselves or others, we move stagnant energy around and we engage in our own bodies without inhibition. If we do this often enough, it is inevitable that we will take this lack of inhibition off of the mat with us. This is why we call it a practice. It's a place to safely practice embracing the flow and living without inhibition.

It's always a practice and a work in progress to let go of what we believe others think of us, but like fear, we can release it. Releasing the fear of rejection, moving freely, and living without inhibition are essential to embracing the flow: invite song, dance, movement and freedom into your life and practice letting go. Dance like no one's watching because they probably aren't.

Namaste

*The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz

Embracing the Flow :: Living Fearlessly

Fear was a dominant emotion in my life until I began studying Yoga philosophy. As an environmental sciences major in college, I often felt completely gripped with fear. Constantly studying and evaluating humanity's destruction of the natural world convinced me of the planet's sure demise. This constant state of fear left me feeling off-balance and often very insecure about the stability of human life. These fears worsened substantially post-college when 9/11 struck New York City: I was certain that not only would there be an environmental collapse, but likely a nuclear or chemical one as well. I showed up in the world much in the same way that I do today: I was social and charismatic, I'm quite sure that I appeared happy, and I was. But this was an insecure happiness as I was sure my happiness could be stolen from me at any moment due to outside forces.

One of the most powerful components of embracing flow is learning to live without fear. Living fearlessly is essential for cultivating true happiness: fearlessness is freedom in its purest form. I will make it clear that I'm am not the Buddha: it is a long path and I'm in my infancy, but through Yoga, I've learned a lot about living fearlessly. Yoga has been an essential tool in this transformation. For me living fearlessly has manifested from four key components: 1) cultivating a non-reactive mind through practicing detachment, 2) believing in Karma (fate), 3) accepting the idea of Maya and 4) practicing free-will.

1) Calm Abiding and Detachment
Through my time on mat and my study Yoga I've learned this: the world is ALWAYS in sate of balance, always. For every evil there is good, for all the darkness there is light. We, as physical beings, have chosen this world to live as it is a world of contrasts--both good and evil, and through these contrasts we make decisions about what is right for our own growth and our own path. The evil that we see out there is simply someone else living their own life, burning off their own Karma. It's only a part of our own story and our own drama if we allow the space for it. Living fearlessly requires practicing detachment. When good news comes, enjoy it, when bad news comes, let it go. We know the world is always changing and always contrasting, so why are we surprised when things are bad? When we grip and attach to fear believing things will never get better we participate in the downward spiral and unwittingly promote negativity. A constant state of negativity is simply not possible: the law of impermanence is always at work, and things will always get better. And they will always get worse. We can't control the flux, so we must learn to control our reactions to the flux and our attachment to the highs and lows by cultivating a non-reactive mind. "The act of detachment can and will help you to live a life of fearlessness and joy."*

2) Belief in Karma/Fate
Believing in the idea of Karma has been an amazing tool for releasing fear. I accept that not everyone open to the idea of Karma, and I'm certainly not one to push it (although it is interesting to note that far more people and faiths in the world believe in Karma than don't), but accepting the idea of Karma/fate is powerful for living fearlessly. Yogic philosophy teaches that there are neither accidents nor coincidences in life. Everything happens for a reason and everything happens to teach us lessons that are necessary for our own growth--our own Karmic progression. Here's an example of how accepting this idea has released me from a state of living in fear. I've always been completely terrified of earthquakes, literally gripped. Convinced it was the big one, I once hit the deck at Gene Jaurez as the ground started to shake, after totally humiliating myself, I learned that the shaking was only the spin cycle on their industrial washing machine in the next room. Hmmm, GRIPPED. Believing in Karma (fate) has helped me deal with this fear: I now believe that if I am in Seattle and around for the inevitable "big one" it's only because I'm supposed to be. Every time I feel the fear creep in--like when I'm driving on the viaduct--I take a deep breath, and remind myself that perhaps the big one is my fate, perhaps it isn't and it probably isn't for me to decide. It's such a simple concept, it's hard to believe it works, but it does release the fear of the unknown. "Knowing that you are living in perfect alignment with a universal plan requires faith, especially when you do not get what you want. Everything is as it should be. Understanding this allows you to relax and live your life in harmony."**

3) Accepting the Idea of Maya
The ancient Yogis have taught us that the world is an illusion that they called Maya. Modern physics, starting with Einstein's Unified Field Theory, have proven the idea of Maya. Einstein discovered that the entire physical world is simply vibration: pure energy. Everything, at its purest form, is made up of electrons and neutrons, which are nothing and everything, pure energy: mass-less and illusory. Even the rock that we perceive as so real is literally shaking in its boots as pure energy. The complexity of Maya is that the Yogi's never said the physical world isn't real; it's very real, they simply explain that it is as transient to our entire experience as a spiritual being as a dream is to our physical being. Maya is explained s a physical manifestation of collective beliefs. If we accept this Yogic teaching and understand the transient nature of our physical lives, we can let go of the fear of inhabiting this life. Regardless of what happens to us in this physical realm, our true selves, our consciousness and spirit will live on. Accepting the limitless and timelessness of our essence and recognizing that our time on Earth is just a blip on the map or Maya, we are released from living in fear.

4) Practicing Free Will
Finally, and most importantly, we are released from living with fear when we understand the power of living with free will. Nothing is scripted for us, nothing is set in stone. We have free-will and we are our own fate-makers. "Nothing in time and space is meant to be, except for what already exists in the present and all that awaits in the future that will be determined by your ever-evolving beliefs and expectations. Tomorrow is a blank slate."***

*The Yogi in You -- Cameron Alborian

**Wishing: How to Fulfill Your Heart's Desires -- Eliazbeth Harper

***Infinite Possibilities: The Art of Lving Your Dreams -- Mike Dooley

"Life is always flowing to you and through you, but for you to have conscious deliberate awareness of it is the ultimate in truly living. Accomplishing end result is manifestation: consciously managing and maintaining your vibrational balance is Deliberate Living. And it is what we call living the Art of Allowing.

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You are far more Vibration and Energy than you are the physical Being that you recognize with you." -The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent: Living the Art of Allowing

Often in class I invite students to allow by saying, "Rather than studying and attaching to the repetitive thoughts that are racing through your head as you evaluate the sequence, your performance of it or the practices of others around you, study your own physical body. Listen to and feel your heart beat, notice the quality of the breath, drop consciousness into the surface of the skin where your circulation, your pulse converges with the energy of the charged particles in the air around you. Let go of expectations, performance anxiety and fear: simply allow the sequence to flow through you, and do the best that your body allows for. Allow yourself to arrive on your mat, to surrender rather than to perform, to flow rather than to strive: dance with life." Engaging in asana in a sate of flow creates mindfulness and awareness of the state of allowing. When we cultivate the state of flow on the mat, we are able to study this state of allowing. Eventually mindfulness around flowing and allowing permeates our entire life experience.

Through time on the mat we start to notice and physically feel our thoughts: we become aware that they are often repetitive and limiting bringing us into a state of reacting and resisting the flow, i.e. "this is so hard, my mat is so slippery, why is the person next to me breathing so loud, that guy has something weird on his toe, I'm hungry and want to be done with class . . . .." We've all been there! This is one of the primary reasons why the Yoga is so hard: we need to create opportunities for discomfort and resistance in order to study our reactions and limiting beliefs and dissipate them by moving into the state of flowing and allowing. Studying our bodies as pure energy--as physical manifestations of our alive-ness--we move slowly but surely out of our foggy state of resistance and disconnection towards our state of flowing and allowing. Next time your in class and you hear the tape recorder of your thoughts start to play, detach, breath, study your physical body, surrender to the sequence and FLOW.