This post was written 3 days after breaking my foot. The climate still rings true for me almost 3 weeks into recovery.

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I have a significant opportunity to evolve weighing on me right now. I’m in a boot. I broke my right foot two weeks ago while I was camping. I’ve slowed down. My husband and children have slowed down to walk beside me. Like my newly walking daughter, Nora, my steps are measured and deliberate. Unlike Nora, my butt and shoulders and hips want to go tense to stabilize if I am not mindful of them. For Nora, falling either brings giggles or tears. I steel myself to the pain if I lose mindfulness in my step and my foot hits wrong. Nora still has to learn to judge herself and others. I notice how slowly I am going relative to others. I wonder what they all think of me.

And, I walk as if I am smelling the roses – not like I have a destination. I creatively “kaboom” on my bum down the stairs with Nora or walk sideways down them. I marvel at the range I do have in my toes and ankle of my right foot. I marvel it is bearing weight when supported in my boot or for short timeframes pain free without the boot on in the evenings (sans kiddos around). I marvel I am still me and not frozen in the melodrama that in the past has brought me down in a time of personal crisis. My right hip bears much load now as does my knee. I am tired. Oh so tired. I want someone to care for me and I have to continue caring for all around me. This is frustrating, irritating, infuriating. And it is not all of me.

I think of aging – I saw an elderly woman walking at my pace – my mindful step pace – on our lunch stop on the drive home from camping. I think of people that I know in wheelchairs and with hearing impairments. They know slowing, seeing, feeling. They have direct access to wisdom that I have been missing. I don’t see them as missing something now – how fully they are formed. Yes, my right foot, ankle, shin and knee are busted up. And I haven’t had a tension headache. I can still drive. I am eating. I did my work for my business tonight. I am going to bed and getting up at the times that make me feel best. I am living. I am hurt and I am alive. I am whole.

I cannot compare myself to Mom B because Mom B might have 1 child, no busted foot and a husband who is away on business 3 of 4 weeks a month. I have 3 children, a busted foot and my husband is home every night. Person to person is apples to oranges. We are all as we are. Tingly and softened. Supple and stiff. Settled. Quiet. In the stillness, I know and see so much room to improve now… to nourish my foot, my knee and my hip to find a connection that supports me from top to bottom; to move my foot and toes daily in the pain free range that they offer me; to explore the potential that we have to be better than we ever were before. To evolve together. Here I go now, watch me soar in this boot.

Contentment. I’m only starting to learn what this word means for me. It isn’t a lack of stress – it is learning to settle in a more honest place with my stress. Instead of pretending everything is okay, I get real. Instead of pushing it under the carpet, I deal with the moment AND I face up to what the heck hit the fan to land me in a gnarly place. After reflecting, I refine my approach for next time and go again. I’m done running the same tire tracks. I’m over it. I love that the climate of my world is shifting from “Oh crud – It’s STILL not all done! <insert expletive here.>” to something more like “Huh. It will never all be done. And if it were, that would be sad because I’d have to be dead.” Not to be morbid but it is kind of true. We are officially yogi scientists running the longest scientific method practice ever. (Remember that one? Something like Formulate a Question, Make a hypothesis, Test Hypothesis, Validate Results, Analyze, Conclusion, Refine and repeat. Yup, that’s us – yogi scientists refining for contentment as the result.)

So, here I am exploring what contentment means for me. And as I write this, the song “Let it Be” performed by Aretha Franklin has popped into my headphones. Isn’t that the magic? Letting whatever is going on be what is going on.

You can check out this complex concept in your asana practice as well. You can move away from forcing to “get it right” (oh, how I’ve known that battering ram well in my life) toward the idea of contentment with what is actually real – what is available to you in a tension free range of movement. Train your brain to move this body in a more easeful way and it will find more and more of that new tire track. Try this small experiment.

• Wherever you are, seated or standing, get equal weight into whatever is supporting you (sit bones or feet). Take 3 natural breaths feeling where the breath is moving right now. Now name a quality for your breath – Does it feel hard? Soft? Sharp? Dry? Heavy? Light? Whatever word comes to you, just file it away noticing but not getting emotional about whether you like that feeling or not.
• Now release the right ear toward the right shoulder and go only to what is a “stretch free” range of movement. This will likely be a much smaller movement than what you are used to in a typical neck stretch.
• Pause here in this neck side bend and take 5 natural breaths.
• Bring the head back to center. Pause for 3 breaths and repeat on the second side.
• Return to center. Now again, take 3 natural breaths. Now name a quality for your breath – Does it feel smooth? Rough? Thick? Slow? Whatever word comes to you, just notice any shift from the quality prior to the movement to this new quality assessment.

So now comes the magic. What did you cultivate and can you be content with exactly what that quality is? The quality is just that – a quality and not an emotion. Can you feel that quality as the space where you are and not where you are forcing to be?

Come along with me and explore. I can promise you it is fascinating and beyond challenging to walk this road. And as we explore this fascinating world of self care and honoring where we are, we will naturally provide an example of contentment for those around us. Don’t force, simply be and move and notice. I have no doubt we will arrive together as we do so.

Let me know how it goes for you.

Be well,

Rachel

Sometimes in a yoga class that I am taking as a student, I can fall into what I call the “spinning” state of my brain where it doesn’t want to turn off and instead wants to continue having a very boring and self-centered internal conversation about me and my world while the teacher in front of me continues to teach a wonderful class.

The awareness of “arriving” is an ever shifting exploration for me right now.  And although I don’t always mention “arriving here” in a subtle way in the classes that I teach, I do invite you to arrive over and over back in your bones, your joints and your awareness… and thus, you naturally “arrive here.”

When I truly “arrive”, I tend to feel that the mind isn’t quite as distracted by the shower of thoughts.  It still gets pulled toward the black hole of my musings somewhere between a little and a lot, but I just keep coming back to the movement and the sensations in my breath, bones and muscles.  In doing so, I acknowledge the sensations.  Some may be painful and some may be pleasant, but I can guarantee you that the more I feel, the more I will feel.  And I cannot choose which sensations to ignore (for example, pain) and which to drink up (for example, a sensation of ease in my back).  If I choose to ignore one, my brain will learn to dampen the experience of them all… and that means all of the good feelings from my practice won’t seep in and stick around for me.

Try this “Arriving” exercise and see how vividly it might bring you into your body.

1. Close your eyes and take a few breaths to notice how many thoughts are bumping around in that amazing brain of your’s right now. How would you describe the quality of the brain space?
   My brain space feels a bit like loud static right now.
2. Now, what is the opposite of that quality you just described?
   For me, the opposite of static is quiet.
3. Wherever you are, keep the volume of your breath the same, close your eyes and focus your attention on your left side body for 3 breaths.  Now attention on your right side body for 3 breaths.  Now attention on your back body for 3 breaths.  Now attention on your front body for 3 breaths.  And finally, attention on breathing 360  for 3 breaths.  Remember, no increase in volume so just a natural inhale and exhale as opposed to super deep breaths.
4. Now, just breathe and notice.  What quality would you give to the brain space now?
   My brain space now feels small and spikey – like tiny blips on a heart machine.  It is quieter.
5. What sensations do you notice in your body?  Don’t ignore – embrace them all as learning to feel again.
   In this moment, my breath is fuller, my mind is softer, I feel the right side of my sacrum aching and my right hip tough.  My left hand is tingling.  This is it.  This is where I am.

That’s it.  No more chewing on what is up with such and such part of my body.  Just practicing feeling today.  Just as we have to know where we’re starting when we plug in a drive route or track it on a map, we have to know where we’re starting when we’re ready to make true progress away from pain and toward more ease.

Try it out and let me know how it goes.

Cheers to feeling more and, as a result, arriving here.

Be well,
Rachel

Small Group Therapeutic Yoga with Rachel at Long Life Wellness Center
2:00-3:15 p.m. on:
Sun, October 2
Sunday, November 6
Sunday, December 11

If you are in pain or feeling stuck or stiff, this small group class will serve you well.  You will integrate restorative yoga, breath awareness, and targeted smaller movements of your joints that honor your smooth and current range of motion. In working in this efficient and supported manner, your brain will begin releasing patterns of bracing and tension and will start integrating the feel of more ease in the body.  Rachel’s therapeutic teachings are based upon her education as a yoga therapist with master therapeutic yoga teacher, Susi Hately of the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). Self Care Investment: $16. Space is limited to 10 students to ensure individualized attention. Signup is required in advance via email to Rachel@PureResilienceYoga.com.

Pure Movement Hatha with Rachel at Long Life Wellness Center
12:15-1:30 p.m. on:
Sunday, August 28
Sunday, October 2
Sunday, November 6
Sunday, December 11
This special offering Pure Movement Hatha class will incorporate Rachel’s signature small movements that uncover big awareness combined with traditional asana (poses / postures). Throughout the practice, you’ll integrate ease of breath and awareness of how your bones specifically relate to each other as you flow.  Come with an open mind ready to explore brand new challenges on your mat.  As one practitioner says, “This practice is sneaky hard.”  Self Care Investment: $15.  Signup via email to Rachel@PureResilienceYoga.com.

Can you soften the buzzing in the mind and the bracing in the body to allow balance to joyfully lead versus be the destination?  When we impose our own expectations, our own goals of perfection of balance and stillness, the balance inevitably falls apart.  And yet, when we allow the breath to lead and the balance to ride in partnership, we not only find more core stability but also the ability to consciously adjust how our bodies react to increased stress.  (And a beautiful secret is that the mind generally follows in ease and softness.)

Over the last few weeks, I’ve felt myself being pulled off balance.  I don’t necessarily mean on my mat, although the body on the mat is brutally honest about the ease and flexibility of the mind as well.  What I mean more so is that as life spins faster and we feel natural human aversion to change tugging our heels to stay back, it’s like we start flailing to stay upright at all.  And on the mat, this can show itself as tipping over when on one leg or not even being balanced on our two legs.

Whatever is touching the mat at a given time, we have the choice to utilize all of those points for equal support.  As we become more accustomed to distributing the shifting of our physical weight in a balanced manner, perhaps we can become more accustomed to being more accepting and smooth in our absorption of emotional shifts as well.  It’s time well spent exploring.  Check this out when you have a moment either waiting in line, brushing your teeth, washing dishes, or any of the other many moments you’re standing on two feet during the day.

• Stand on your two feet, arms gently by your sides and take three breaths here to settle in.  Feel where your weight naturally is in the feet.  If you were standing upon wet sand, how would the impression of your feet look in terms of where you’re deeper in the sand and where the impression isn’t as deep?  Change nothing – simply notice what is there.
  In this moment, I feel my weight more in the outer edge of my left foot and the inner edge of my right foot.

• Notice if the knees feel hard and straight.  If so, find a gentle almost imperceptible bend to them.  Now gently begin to bring equal weight into the left and right foot.  Notice specifically the base of the big toe, the base of the pinkie toe and the center of the heel as they rest upon the earth.  Can you get more balanced here without forcing or smooshing the toes down?  What do you notice?
  I can’t tell you what I notice because then you might try to notice the same thing instead of your own sensations.  J  Go ahead, you’ve got this one on your own.

• Start to shift your weight over toward the right foot continuing to feel those 3 points alive to the earth beneath you – base of big toe, base of pinkie, and center of the heel.  The left foot is still on the floor but you could lift it at any moment if you wished to do so.  Now smoothly return to center and pause.  Feel the 3 points on both feet here in balance.

• Start to shift your weight over to the left foot. Feel the 3 points there and pause with this intentional imbalance – that is to say both feet are touching the floor but you are more to the left side.  Then ride smoothly back to center and pause.

• Repeat this full cycle one more time in each direction ensuring that you find the pause in the center and that you remain with gentle attention in the 3 points of the feet.  Arrive back in center.  Take 3 settling breaths and notice if there is now anymore ease in your muscles and in your mind.

It can be intriguing to play with this balance exploration multiple times throughout the day.  What can you start to notice about how your feet initially are absorbing the load of your body and how it shifts after the exploration?  Is the experience different on different days or at different times of the day?  Ponder, explore, and enjoy bowing to a state of balance.

Be well and breathe easy,
Rachel

Are your curious about why I teach how I teach?  Have you wondered, “What is neutral spine anyway?  How do I find it?  Why do I feel less pain but like I worked harder after I move smaller? ”  And do you want to understand how you can consistently apply my teaching principles of ease, core connection, and efficiency in your everyday life?

Then come join me on Saturday, July 30 at studioVIBE Cary from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. for an interactive formal introduction to 3 of my basic teaching principles and from 4:15-5:45 p.m. for a culminating yoga practice.

We’ll spend our time together exploring the principles in discussion, targeted movement, and Q & A.  Come curious and ready for some “ah-ha’s” about how you are moving now and how it could immediately be different.

More information and registration for both the 3 hour workshop “A New Way to Move – Core Stablity and Your Yoga Practice with Rachel” and the 90 minute class “A New Way to Move – A Practice with Rachel & Susan” is available here:  http://www.studiovibecary.com/our-services/workshops/

1) For one week, commit to a “daily recap” at the end of your day.  Use one notebook or notepad for the week so you have all daily recaps in the same place.  As part of your evening routine (think brushing teeth, washing face, etc.), add in less than 5 minutes to jot down:

A)  3 things that went well during your day.
For me, a very possible list might say, 1) Ate all 3 meals sitting at the table, 2) Walk with family, 3) Meditated.

And for me, this is a realistic list that might show up, 1) Exhausted this morning because went to bed at midnight, 2) Got visibly frustrated with my 3 year old and felt badly afterward, 3) Didn’t have a dinner plan and flustered when kids got wound up at 5:30.

A tip – don’t dwell on this list.  Write what comes to mind quickly and set it aside until the next night.

For example, if the first list included “walking outside” as a 5 out of 7 day hit for me (or 4 out of 7 day or whatever I deem successful), that would be a good pattern for me to recognize and celebrate.  On the second list, if “went to bed at midnight” or around that time was jotted down each day, I’d know factually and in writing, that I have a pattern that I’d like to quiet down.

3)  Then add a layer and notice how movement, stillness or breath both applies to what is going well and what could be going better.

Ah, movement is feeding my soul.  See how it is on the “What went well” list in my walk with my family? In terms of layering on going to bed too late, if it is something I want to quiet then I know I need to embrace “stillness” to stop the flow of doing things in the evening.  Perhaps I also know that it is generally the same thing that keeps me up late every night – whether that be work or just watching t.v. or whatever.  Regardless of what I am choosing to stay up for right now, I recognize that stillness is more important than that action.  Stillness is my new choice instead of staying up late and churning.

4)  What small shifts can you make so that if you choose to do this exercise again the following week, “things that could  have gone better” will look a little different and not like the exact same tire tracks?  Think small – like how I have you move in class.

So, if I don’t want to see “Exhausted this morning because went to bed late” on my list next week, I decide that my priority for the next week is to go to bed, lights off at 10pm. That’s it.  Just one shift for one item.  Not 10 changes to address all 10 items.  Where will you get the biggest bang for your buck in areas that could quiet patterns of disservice?  

5)  Of equal importance, celebrate what is going well and nurture it.  Keep it going!  You’re doing great and getting more aware that every moment of every day involves choice of movement, stillness, and breath.

The sounds and flashiness of the holiday have settled. The New Year is upon us and so we settle. We settle with our intentions. We settle with the day to day once more. We settle with the expansive possibilities that lay in wait within the minutes of 2016.

We move big in our day to day. We drive big cars, we talk loudly, we listen to loud music, we have big t.v.’s,  we watch long movies and read sometimes even longer blogs. We definitely think loudly. Our grocery stores are big, the man made playgrounds are big… and yet somehow with all the bigger, we still find food for our souls in the quiet. In the simple beauty of a symphony. In the stillness of ocean waves on a quiet beach. In the towering magnificence of trees in a forest. In the pure moonlight of a winter’s night. The quiet is where we can go to feel purity. The quiet is where we can go to hear wisdom.

The quiet can also be uncomfortable and scary and deafening. A relationship with the quiet is not always easy. And yet the quiet is also the place of subtle and incessant power. Last month, I suggested that you step away from the hustle and bustle to embrace the quiet and be present with the quality of the breath – your actual one word descriptor – where it met the pain. This month, we’ll add on. Ready?

1. This time, you can choose to find this exploration absolutely anywhere in any situation.  
I am sitting at a table in a restaurant right now and there are LOTS of people all around me.

2. When you notice your body is in pain or strain, simply pause.  The world can continue around you, but you simply stop moving for the moment and notice where you can do 10% less to simply be in the position you are already in.
My shoulder blades just settled with gravity… I didn’t force them down; they naturally found there way home and now I’m doing 10% less to exist.

3. Take a few natural breaths – no deeper than normal. Simply feed the breath in and out for about 3 cycles and start to notice where strain resides for you in this moment.  Where do you feel particularly sticky?
The base of my neck into my upper back is feeling especially strained tonight.

4. Now, talk to the pain in that specific area of your body. For 10 breath cycles (count by tapping them gently on your fingers), let it go something like this in your head:
On the natural inhale – “Upper back, I am breathing in.”
On the natural exhale – “Upper back, I am breathing out.”
I’m actually talking to my tissue right now in my head.  Just as if it were a person standing in front of me, I am offering it some information.

5. If you find that you get distracted before the 10 breaths are up, just start at the beginning once more. Keep doing that until you get through the full 10 breaths with the repetition in synchrony:
On the natural inhale – “Upper back, I am breathing in.”
On the natural exhale – “Upper back, I am breathing out.”
And now that the tissue has some information, I can feel it responding.  No, I won’t tell you what it is doing but it is definitely responding.

When you are done, take stock. Notice how the breath feels now. Notice how the sticky spot has reacted to your direct attention. And if you really want to go for some fun, allow this to be a weekly or a daily practice for the next four weeks. The shifts will be fascinating, for sure. I’ll do the same and meet you back here next month. Feel free to drop me a note at Rachel@PureResilienceYoga.com to let me know how it is going or talk to me in class. Happy exploring!

Be well,
Rachel

Typically when your yoga teacher encourages “listening” to your body, what he is actually suggesting is to “notice” what is happening. Instead, what if you choose to truly listen to a conversation partner that is aching to be heard? Read on for 5 steps that you can use anytime from the holiday shopping to the New Year’s Eve party that will help set the foundation for an intriguing conversation. Even in the midst of the season’s crazy wonderful, your breath, your muscles, your connective tissue, your joints – they all have actual words to share with you.

You may now be wondering, “What is she talking about?” It’s okay. If you’re getting this via my monthly newsletter, you’re probably used to sticking with me in class to learn more.  If you’re not and you’ve found this post on my website, have faith and continue reading.

The holidays are upon us. We aim to find gratitude for our health, families, friends, food, shelter, ability to travel, and countless other blessings. I have no doubt that many of us feel the joy of the season with grace and lightness.

Some of us feel the holidays a bit differently. ah-hem… that’s me. I aim to find gratitude in all of those things AND also tend to get caught up in the churning of the season. There is inherently lots of stress for me in balancing what I want for the holidays with what my extended family wants, thinking through gifts for kiddos and family, and preparing lots and lots of food. Not to mention that our day to day does not stop. While the holidays roll in with the guise of a plush passenger coach, the freight trains of jobs, school, and the amazing baby growing keep flying through the station as well.

All of this stress – blessed good stress for me right now – can lead to the body tensing up to try and protect us from the forces of our external world. We have sticky spots not because they HAVE to be sticky but because our brain thinks that holding our shoulders up or tightening that hip or squeezing the right shoulder blade up to the sky (that’s me!) provides a safer place for us to navigate our day to day. Are we really physically or emotionally safer? It’s highly unlikely. But it is a long engrained holding pattern that our brain cannot let go of consciously. We can’t just say, “Hey body, stop doing that. I don’t like it.”

The great news is that there is another way to change our patterns of tension. It starts with awareness. The more we quiet the more we hear. It can be tricky to find the quiet within the holiday season. The external and internal chatter can provide a bit of a cacophony. But as we find time to settle and notice, we have the potential to hear what is underneath. There is a symphony awaiting our patience.

In the midst of the holiday crazy wonderful, next time you have that same old tight spot start to tense up on you, give yourself 3 minutes. Just like you have to excuse yourself to the restroom sometimes, excuse yourself now to the “reflect” room. Step out of the bustle and the holiday joy and find the complimentary peace of quiet… like on a cold snowy night as you sit in the glittery moonlight.

When you feel your tension going up, find pause. Do not try to force your shoulders down or your chest open (or whatever it is for you) in that moment. Instead…

1. Find a place that you can be alone – if all else fails, you can normally find a restroom pretty much regardless of where you are.
I’m in the living room at my in-law’s house right now.

2. Find the most comfortable position for you in that moment – standing against the wall, sitting, wherever makes sense.
Right now, I’m sitting in a straight back chair with my feet flat on a stool.

3. Take a few natural breaths; where are your inhale and exhale moving? Again, change nothing; no need to deepen the breath. Simply notice where you feel your body moving when you inhale and where you feel it moving when you exhale. Stay with this for about 15 breath cycles.
Right now, I feel my breath in my left ribs and belly and a tad in the left side of my throat.

4. Consider, what one word you would use to describe your breath in this moment? Smooth, choppy, disconnected, rapid, shallow, etc.
In this moment, my breath is “sustaining.”

5. Then wait. And listen. For the moment, be with the pain, the tension, the strain. Release the fight against it and be within the center of it’s storm. It has something to say to you but first we’ve got to get quiet enough to hear the whispers, or, as it may be for you right now, the screams.
Shhh… I’m listening. See the “Do Not Disturb” sign?

Then what? Well, let’s get past the holidays and at the end of December we’ll talk next steps. Until then, feel free to drop me a note at rachel@pureresilienceyoga.com or talk to me in class about how the exploration is going for you.

This structure of a body – it does more than connect our bones, give our muscles a web to surround and our skin a soft landing. It is a universe in itself. There is both peace and war within my body right now… the same is true for you. But as in our world, there can be more peace. There can be more ease. There can be more love. There can be more joyful celebration. Give yourself permission to quiet, listen and hear what your breath has to say to you. There is an intriguing conversationalist lying in wait.