Plans

"Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans." ~John Lennon

I've been thinking about plans lately, because I've got a lot of them this year. And, because so far, some of my plans haven't worked out quite as expected.

First there was my trip to Dallas for a weekend workshop with my teacher, during which I fell and sprained my ankle. Then, this past week, my friend, Irene, came for her annual visit, to which we both look forward all year. Even before she arrived, though, we knew that she might have to cut her visit short, because her brother had been diagnosed with a potentially life threatening illness. And indeed, that's what happened - she's on her way to see him now.

I've learned to try to find a balance between looking forward to planned events, but not getting too invested in them. That's not always easy, especially when you are really, really, REALLY looking forward to something.

But when things go awry, it also becomes easier to focus on what really matters. In Dallas, I had to totally shift my expectations away from how I had expected the workshop to go for me, and to embrace a whole different perspective on participation and learning - while also keeping my ankle safe!

And, as much as Irene and I had looked forward to a long stretch of hanging out together, as soon as the situation with her brother was clear, we shifted into letting go of the expectations we'd had and honed in on what was now important: making arrangements to get her where she needed to go in the timeframe she needed to get there. We had two lovely days together, and though we were sad to have it cut short, we both also felt good and peaceful that she was doing the right thing.

I don't know that there is any big message here other than not to hold too tightly too our plans. It's just what I'm thinking about, given these two situations coming within weeks of each other. And, of course, I'm hoping this isn't a trend that will hold for the whole year. But if it is, I'm sure I/we will adapt accordingly, because, well, that's Life!

For February, I've focused my classes on heart openers - or back bends - because we associate February with Valentine's Day and hearts and love and all that good stuff. In my more advanced class, we worked our way up to Urdhva Dhanurasana, or "Upward Facing Bow Pose," often called Wheel. We had fun exploring the dynamics of coming into this challenging pose: arm and shoulder strength, open shoulders, flexibility, long relaxed muscles and the front body's ability to stretch.

So, here I am, doing the pose out on our lanai.You can see that it's the shape of an archer's bow, facing upward - hence the name. And you can see how it opens and stretches the chest and the heart space. As I mentioned, it's a challenging pose, but one that makes you feel great! With openness in our hearts, we are more able to adapt to life's surprises - especially the curve balls.

Rest

I've been resting. My sprained ankle is healing nicely, but it's remarkable what even a small injury can take out of you. When it happened, I think a whole lot of adrenalin kicked in to keep me going, because I was away from home, alone, in an unfamiliar, big city. I had to keep it together through the workshop and the travel. Upon my return home, I had two workshops and my regular classes to prepare for, all the while having to move much more slowly and cautiously to keep the ankle safe. It's taken a lot of concentration, and that's tiring.

So, I've been resting as much as I can, whenever I can, and it's helped a lot.

At our studio, we teach two classes that focus on rest - one that combines meditation and restorative practice, and the other that is only restful yoga poses. People say they love these classes, but attendance is spotty and never what you'd call BIG, compared to our active classes. One student said to me, "I don't know why there aren't 30 people in this class!" We've speculated about that a lot, but where I've landed is this: we humans think "doing something" is important and "not doing anything" is ...lazy, wasteful, unproductive. We think resting is somehow a sign of weakness and we don't make it a priority.

I know, I know. We're busy. We're busy, busy, busy. Some of that is real. And some of it is us, putting ourselves last. Don't get mad at me - maybe you really are that busy! Good for you - or not good for you, as the case may be. But I have learned that we make the time for what is important to us. We do. Sometimes we are forced into resting by an accident - like a sprained ankle, or by a cold or flu.

It's just a question to ask ourselves - why are so willing to deny ourselves rest?

Writing this has made me tired. Time for a nap. :)

Mindfulness and a Twisted Ankle

Since the start of the year, I've been writing about mindfulness - the practice of paying attention and being present. This past weekend, I had the interesting experience of having a moment of mind-LESS-ness turn into an opportunity to practice constant mindfulness.

I twisted my ankle while I was at a weekend intensive yoga workshop with my teacher in Dallas, Texas. I didn't twist it DURING a workshop session; I twisted it while walking through the parking lot to my car in between sessions.

I'd never been to Dallas before. I was traveling alone, had a rental car and a hotel room a few miles from the yoga studio. Dallas is a big city and going from the airport to my hotel and my hotel to the yoga studio required navigating busy city expressways and trusting my WAYZ app (which I highly recommend) to get me where I wanted to go. I'd attended a yoga class and the first workshop session with my teacher when it happened  - in other words, it happened on the first day of the workshop.

Like all accidents, it happened Just. Like. That. I stepped on a small stone, my ankle turned and I felt myself go down. I didn't hurt myself hitting the ground, but I knew right away that my ankle was injured.

The good news is that I could walk on it - or limp, without pain. It wasn't broken, just injured. It swelled up and there was bruising below the ankle on the outer heel. But it didn't hurt to put weight on it - only when I turned certain ways.

Part of me wanted to cry and the other part thought, Well, this is just what happened. You can let it ruin the weekend, or you can use it to learn something different from what you expected. I decided to do the latter, and it turned out to be one of the best workshop experiences of my life. With guidance from my teacher, Tias Little, I was able to participate fully in the workshop sessions and much of what he taught helped the ankle feel better. 

I wasn't doing anything wrong when I fell, just walking out to my car during the break. But, I was probably hurrying when I didn't need to and I certainly didn't see the stone that took me down, so I wasn't "paying attention." In a moment of inattention - of mindlessness - I hurt myself.

From that point on, I had to practice CONSTANT mindfulness: I had to move slooooowly, staying conscious of every step and every movement. Throughout the workshop, I had to be constantly mindful of how I positioned my foot. I had to take the time to figure out how to transition down to the floor or up to standing. I had to determine if I needed to take a different position in a pose and if so, what it should be. Tias and his wonderful assistants offered suggestions to help me get the most out of it and stay safe.

This became, oddly enough, a rather fun and interesting challenge! I may have gotten more out of the workshop as a result of having to be so constantly present with and thoughtful about my movements. I felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from figuring things out and participating, rather than relegating myself to wounded-bird status; sitting in a corner, pouting and feeling sorry for myself.

After the workshop, I had to navigate transfers at the airport and getting through security and to my gate. I got there early,  walked slowly and waited for crowds to dissipate before moving forward. People move fast in airports and think nothing of brushing by and bumping into you!

I got home safely and my foot feels better daily, though it looks like a small monster's foot. I still have to think about my movements and remain fully present with what I'm doing - every minute! 

I find it extremely interesting that I've been exploring mindfulness so much lately and suddenly was given the opportunity to put it into action in a BIG way - as the result of NOT putting it into action! I think we call that irony. 

Here are a couple of the stretches that we did in the workshop that really helped my foot and ankle feel better. I was lucky though, that it wasn'tsprained badly r broken - then it would have been too painful and not advisable to do anything but rest.

Supta Padanghustasana I

Supta Padanghustasana I Variation

Supta Padanghustasana II with Handhold Variation

Supta Padanghustasana III with Handhold Variation