How are you doing? Any chance you are feeling tired, stressed, weary, cranky, overwhelmed? These are just a few of the sensations I've been feeling lately...along with excitement, joy, relief. It's funny how they can all exist alongside each other, and how they change with time. My practices of active asana, restorative yoga as well as meditation and journaling really help me to see where I am at any given moment; they support me in meeting myself and staying present with what is. They also create the space to allow things to shift and change when they are ready to do so.

A practice that I’ve been exploring is something called a practice poem or gatha. A gatha, as Thich Nhat Hanh explains in his book, How To Sit is a simple meditation that can help you connect to what is true for you in any given moment as well as connect to the present moment. One way we can create our own gatha is by first acknowledging what is going on within us and then by connecting to a quality we'd like to bring into our life.

With this type of practice, we welcome ourselves as we are - with our agitations, our joys, our fidgety-ness...whatever, and we give ourselves a gentle nudge toward what we'd like to cultivate.

And I’ve noticed that when I give myself a moment just to sit and breathe, it allows the feelings and sensations to surface, and for me to “name” them, be with them, even find a sense of peace with them. And from this the possibility for shifts can arise. Just today I was feeling the stress and anxiety of Jonathan going back to school – and all that comes with it: solo parenting until Maddie goes back, organizing childcare so I can go out to teach, figuring out when to get the recently-serviced car back to the mechanic because something isn’t working correctly, and planning for 2 distinctly different types of classes. Needless to say I was stressed, and taking a moment to pause and breathe allowed me to connect with the stress and anxiety - name it – feel its grip – feel its grip loosen a little – feel a little more grounded and then go off to teach.

Here was my gatha:

Breathing in I feel anxious,
Breathing out I connect with inner peace.

Would you like to try creating your own gatha? If you do, shoot me an email and let me know how it goes.

Check out my classes here and let's move together!