As we transition into Autumn, this junction point of the year which marks the start of a new season, it is the perfect opportunity to make time to consciously let go of something,  anything that no longer serves you. Here is a short meditation practice to support you in the process…

A meditation to let go

To start, find a comfortable seat – somewhere that you can sit for a few minutes. (Use props to support you and perhaps a blanket to cover you in case your body temperature drops.)

Close your eyes and soften the muscles in your face. Take a few deep breaths and feel the contact of your body with the ground. Allow your sit bones to drop into the ground and the crown of your head to reach towards the sky. Taking a few moments to arrive and settle into your body.

Bring to mind something that you’re struggling with, something that you’re finding difficult to let go of. As you do this, notice where you feel the struggle in your body. For example – your chest. Now, place a hand on your chest and notice the comforting warmth of your hand on this part of your body.

Quietly say, “My peace is worth more to me than this. I choose to let this go”.

Repeat this process as many times as you need until the struggle or tension in your body begins to ease.

When you’re ready to bring your practice to a close, simply take a few deep breaths and slowly open your eyes. 

Make it ‘Easy, always, always, easy’

This is a practice you can come back to any time. And remember to make it “easy, always, always, easy”.

I want to leave you with this very special poem written by Safire Rose that has recently inspired my own process of letting go. For me, her words beautifully capture the quiet, simple process of surrender and I hope they can inspire you too…

She Let Go

She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear.  She let go of the judgments.  She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.  She let go of the committee of indecision within her.  She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons. Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice. She didn’t read a book on how to let go.  She didn’t search the scriptures. She just let go.  She let go of all of the memories that held her back.  She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.  She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go. She didn’t journal about it. She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer. She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper. She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope. She just let go.

She didn’t analyze whether she should let go. She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter. She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment. She didn’t call the prayer line. She didn’t utter one word. She just let go.

No one was around when it happened. There was no applause or congratulations. No one thanked her or praised her. No one noticed a thing. Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort. There was no struggle. It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad. It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be. A small smile came over her face. A light breeze blew through her. And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.

I love words and, today I’ve discovered a wonderful new one; and it’s perfect for lazy summer days!

Pomale, also spelled Bumale, Bumali or Pomalo is a term from Southeastern and Central Europe. It describes a moment of relaxed happiness, a feeling of ease and lightness that comes along with a profound sense of peacefulness and the knowledge that everything is alright and life is good.

It’s similar to the experience of quiet joyfulness that sets in after a yoga workshop, movement class, or long massage treatment, while being deeply engaged with a creative project, during a trip to the ocean, or on long hike through the mountains.

Pomale can be the response to the question “how are things going?” or “how’s life?” If you are relaxed, happy and in the flow of life, the response would be “everything’s pomale”.

Pomale can also be used in the context of slowing down. Saying “Pomale! Pomale!” means “Hey, slow down, take your time.”

Pomale always comes with a profound sense of peacefulness and the knowledge that everything is alright and life is good.

You can do things the pomale way, which means that you do things slowly and you enjoy the process. So, make today a day when you adopt a pomale approach to life. The sun is out and everything’s pomale!!

“If a man is interested in weaving, he shouldn’t keep a monkey for a pet.”

So says the Indian proverb.

That advice has me imagining monkeys speedily undoing the threads on looms with their little monkey fingers the very minute their owners turn their backs. While The Yoga Sutra and their commentaries are often inscrutable to me, I think I get what Satchidananda means here; there seem to have been countless times when I’ve prepared my “loom” by setting a resolution, and then went right out and got myself a monkey; a distraction.

ADOPT A LOYAL PET

But not all pets are distracting and mischievous. Might there even be some that help us weave the tapestries of our resolutions, rather than tearing them to shreds? I wonder if sometimes, when we fail in our resolution-keeping, it’s because we self-handicap ourselves with monkeys rather than adopting loyal pets—the people, activities, and approaches—that might keep us inspired and help us to further our goals. No one said we had to go it alone.

Perhaps when we close our eyes and sit in a comfortable seat for meditation, we could not only invite fewer monkeys in, closing the door on the thoughts that disrupt us, but also invite in the pet of the breath. The pet of the candle flame. The pet of a mantra. And for a few minutes, things may grow quiet enough that we can see a new pattern emerging in the warp and weft of the mind’s loom.

A great philosophy teacher Rose Baudin, once said,

‘We do not see the world as it is, but as we are.’

Those words have continued to ring true for me in the many years since I first heard it. And the practice of yoga can shine a light on the way we view and react to the world and our habitual responses.

‘We do not see the world as it is, but as we are.’

 So what does that really mean? What does it point to?

Well, for me it is that our personal experiences of mind and body directly affect how we move through the world. If we never question or look in to this we can often assume that ‘our’ personal view of the world is the only one that exists.

And then we can find ourselves pushing out against the world and those around us from that point of view, without realising it is just a unique personal lens that each of us look at the world through each day.

Which is why, for example, when a wonderful thing happens in your life, such as falling in love, your spirits are usually so exalted and elevated that your whole world view is too.  Suddenly everyone and everything around you impart great joy, when just a short time ago you were irked and annoyed by it all.

All this leads us back to our sense of self

The relationship we have with ourselves is truly the most important and foundational relationship that exists in our lives. It has most potential to either positively or negatively affect our experience of the world.

So where does Loving Kindness come into all this?

Well, loving kindness or ‘metta’ as it was originally called in the Buddhist tradition that it arose from is a form of meditation that helps us cultivate ‘loving kindness’ and compassion for both ourselves and others.

The concept of ‘loving kindness’ is not unique to Buddhism alone. It is a concept that arises in almost all major religions of the world, which indicates that across time and space ‘loving kindness’ and the cultivation of compassion are acts that humanity values and deeply needs.

In Christianity, for example, you have the concept of loving kindness documented as far back as 1535.

In Hinduism you have the concept of ‘Priti’ meaning “amity, kindness, friendly disposition, love, affection, harmony, peacefulness”.

I have to offer myself good wishes?!

What I love about the practice is that it begins with oneself, and our relationship with ourselves. And what is interesting is that often we are surprised by how hard we find it to sincerely offer good wishes to ourself, revealing perhaps a latent underlying belief we have about ourselves that we are not worthy of well wishes.

This is interesting terrain as yogis to navigate and initially we may feel we are saying these sentiments without fully embodying them but over time I have found my relationship with myself has been deeply softened, improved and enhanced by this practice.

… And someone I don’t like?!

Then the next challenge people often face with the practice is attempting to sincerely and wholeheartedly offer well wishes to someone in our lives we are currently have difficulty with.

Again, initially, in the early stages of practice it may feel that you can’t fully embody offering these well wishes to this person sincerely. However, what I have found over years of practice is that it has resulted in a softness arising within me.  There is a slow embodied realisation that above all our differences, this tricky person and I have more in common than we have in difference.

Intrigued? Fancy giving it a go?

Below is a very simple script to follow to get you started in Loving Kindness meditation. Feel free to tweak and change it to what really resonates and works for you.

Find a quiet, undisturbed place to sit. Either on the floor with cushions elevating your hips higher than your knees or on a chair. Whatever feels most comfortable for you and allows you to have a tall spine. Start by taking a few slow, deep breaths and tuning into the flow of your breath.

Then bring your awareness to yourself and offer up the below 4 statements silently internally to yourself with as much sincerity as you can muster! Repeat 3 times.

May I be filled with loving kindness.

May I be safe from inner and outer dangers.

May I be well in body and mind.

May I be at ease and happy.

Then repeat the same thing with someone you dearly love in your life, offering them these phrases. Then repeat with someone in your life you seen often but don’t actually know, then lastly repeat with someone you are challenged by currently in your life.

At the end, pause, allow whatever unfolded to be as it is. No judgement on how sincerely you managed to express these statements to self or other. Just trust in the fact that you made the time and commitment to sit and cultivate loving kindness and compassion for self and other.

Practice as much as you like, but know like all practices, the more you dive into it the more it will deepen and be enriched.

This week there seems to have been a lot in the media about the importance of sleeping well. Which is so fabulous, as far as I’m concerned, as we often think of eating better, exercising better to improve our health and happiness, but actually, it seems that sleep has an even bigger impact on our overall health than what we eat or how we move.

I just heard about an amazing study, the ‘daylight savings time’ which is conducted twice a year on over 1.5 billion people across 70 countries, and shows a massive 24% increase in heart attacks due the the loss of just one hour’s sleep and in the autumn there’s a 21% decrease in heart attacks. That’s pretty incredible to me. Just one hour’s sleep results in such massive biological differences and such a marked affect upon our biology.

It’s so bizarre that sleep is the absolute corner-stone of good health but is often undercooked as a ‘nice to have’. And worse, sleepy-heads are called lazy and those who sleep less are applauded as being more productive, whereas it’s actually the other way round! Those who get their 8 hours are healthier, are able to lose weight easier, have better athletic performance, improved cognition skills, improved memory, are seen as more charismatic, more inspiring leaders, are more productive and happier!! 

Yoga has been proven to help those of us who struggle to switch off and ease our way towards a good night’s sleep. Restorative yoga is, in my book, yoga’s best kept secret and I love teaching this ‘Feel Good Friday’ class, now as a monthly workshop. Book with me now for October 27th and experience the benefit of yoga Nidra or yoga sleep. Sweet dreams assured!!

If you’re in any doubt about the importance of sleep, have a read of this fascinating interview with Matthew Walker, author of ‘Why We Sleep’.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/24/why-lack-of-sleep-health-worst-enemy-matthew-walker-why-we-sleep

As a child, I secretly loved going back to school in September. Not for me the heavy heart as the summer holiday drew to a close. Instead, I longed for my smart shiny shoes and sharp pencils which marked the start of a new term, new opportunities, new challenges.

As an adult, we leave our resolutions and fresh starts for January, resolving to give up this, give up that and become that better, fitter, healthier, slimmer person we feel we ought to be.

SEPTEMBER IS THE NEW JANUARY

Well, how about September becomes the new January? New year resolutions? Sooo last year, darling! Instead, how about a daily resolution; an affirming, positive, life enhancing decision, no matter how small,  which will bring us joy? No more deprivation and denial.

REFLECT ON YOUR OWN PERSONAL HARVEST

Friday 22nd September heralds in the Autumn Equinox, the day when day and night are beautifully balanced, marking the start of autumn. In yoga, it’s a time to reflect on your own personal harvest and, just as the trees shed their leaves, a time to leave behind all that doesn’t serve you.

MAKE, LEARN OR DO SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY

So, shake off old habits and plan a new one. Sow the seeds now, ready to reap the benefits in the gloriously colourful autumnal days to come. As for me, I resolve to offer myself the same care I bring to my classes; to learn to let go; and to continue to make, learn or do something new every day…no matter how small.

I’m a firm believer that yoga really can and should be available for everyone, regardless of age or ability. So, I’m feeling pretty pleased that LIM has made the local press with an article about Chair Yoga or ‘Choga’ as I call it. This group began over 2 years ago and we’re still going strong with many of the chogis having been with me from the start. It’s one of the most uplifting and inspiring classes I am lucky enough to teach and  I’ve seen the difference, both mentally and physically that yoga has brought. I’ve recently started teaching yoga for palliative care at a local hospice and, what’s so wonderful is to see both staff and patients getting involved together. Proof positive that yoga is something everyone can access and enjoy.

https://www.valleyleisure.co.uk/news/valley-leisure-launch-community-choga-class/

Happy Easter! I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I gave up my old life to start my new life on the mat. Easter in the Christian tradition is a time of celebration; Lenten abstinence is over and we can enjoy the delights of chocolate once more!! Easter this year is looking particularly beautiful, abounding with the colours of spring flowers, blossoming in the unexpected but, oh so welcome warm sunshine.

On the mat, I can feel my body wanting to shake off the winter gloom as I approach my practice with renewed energy and vigour. I’ve been incorporating invigorating sun salutes into my classes and was delighted to discover this wonderful, meditative music to accompany them. The steady chant soothes the mind, just as the flowing sequence gently warms the body, easing us from our winter hibernation. Enjoy.