Serenity, Courage, and Wisdom
Each full, deep inhale creates more space in your body and mind. Each long, exhale moves you directly into that space. The deeper you breathe, the more opens up. It’s like opening a door and walking through with each breath. The fuller your breaths the more and more doors open on up, leaving you with the space to walk on in! — Tara Stiles
As my family and I gathered last night for our regular Sunday dinner, I talked with some of my family members about my aunt who was recently diagnosed with ALS and her journey ahead. We talked about the difficulties she is facing but also the strength and courage she has. We talked of the many accounts of others facing ALS who have found joy throughout such a devastating diagnosis. Each of us has someone in our lives, maybe even ourselves, for whom there is a tough situation this holiday season. So this week, as Thanksgiving approaches, I thought I’d focus on increasing expansiveness in an effort to lead to more joy.
Our yoga practice helps to bring a sense of expansiveness to the body. As we hold a difficult pose for a period of time, we use our breath to increase our ability to stay in the pose. Our poses; along with our breath; help us create a feeling of more space in the body.
Here’s to all of us who may need to rely on some expansiveness in our emotions this week. Our yoga practice helps us to work towards allowing enough room to both accept what we cannot change and find joy in the beauty around us. For those of us heading into a week full of tough situations- grief, health issues, possibly even relatives that bring us stress; I’m hoping that we can remember to fall back on our yoga breathing. Let’s remind ourselves to find joy in the little moments tucked in between the hard spaces. My wish for each of you is that you’ll find pockets of joy throughout the holiday weekend and work to focus your energy there instead of on the things out of your control.
Breathe in. Breathe Out. Repeat After Me: Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.