Love What You Do

My new hairstylist reminded me of one of life's most simple yet great lessons on Saturday. It rings true in one of my favorite Rumi quotes: "Let the beauty we love be what we do."

Another way of saying it, do what interests you, what you love, and you'll thrive. This lesson could apply to your work, your hobbies, your cooking, your organization (or lack thereof) and, naturally, your exercise/movement/physical activity. Call me an idealist, but I believe this theory. Of course, we've gotta pay our taxes (I do not consider numbers as something that interests me), and we've gotta find a way to stay reasonably balanced in our health, occupation and relationships. Speaking of health, and more specifically, fitness:

Say you loathe lifting weights at the gym, but you love to dance. Do you what you love (dance), and then seek out a great Pilates class/instructor to help you maintain all-over strength so you can boogy, or leap, or twirl, or tap to your heart's content with strength and body awareness.

Say you're bored to tears on a treadmill, but you love fresh air and flowers. Get outside, and pound the pavement! Invest in some quality workout gear depending on the season, and make the earth your home, your haven.

Say you love to snow ski, but you live in Atlanta. Get a Wii. Yes, if it makes you feel joy while you move and feel alive in your body, it's worth the price even if you're not into Guitar Hero.

Speaking of, say you love to sing or play music, but you have a hard time "getting-the-potato-off-the-couch", I guarantee you that if you get creative with a unique playlist for yourself, you'll learn to love how your body re-energizes with movement and music.

It's not rocket science. And, even the pro athletes and Broadway stars have to give themselves pep talks here and there to get themselves to move -- to wake up their bodies, to find strength in their muscles, to relish a deep stretch, and to find freedom in their days.

See, this goes to show why finding a great stylist is so important -- as they're beautifying, shaping and grooming (might I add: around your seventh chakra), it's a bonus to have someone do it who has a sense of beauty from the inside-out. Thank you, Shawn Black, http://www.mirarsalon.com/

Move, Breathe, Be Free

I'm taking a yoga teacher training that's, well, much more demanding and intense than I'd imagined. I'm truly enjoying it, and when I say demanding and intense, I don't mean to conjure up the idea of a dry teacher forcing us into pretzel poses. We've got reading/writing homework, a service project, long training weekends, weekly classes, daily meditations and movement series to create, etc. And, mostly, there's breathwork. Breathwork that slows you down, that takes you into yourself. It helps to guide you to your wholeness, your sense of strength or God or whatever you wanna call it.

While I'm just now taking this yoga training, I've been teaching movement for 10+ years and taking/teaching yoga for about four years. More and more so, when beginning with a new client, I suggest working on a little breathwork at first. Sometimes clients jump aboard, and tears flow or inspiration hits. Sometimes folks are too antsy, or sometimes it just feels weird and unnatural to practice breathing. And, sometimes breathing makes us feel. A lot. Sometimes too much. Or so we think.

That's why my yoga training can be so much work! It slows me down and the feelings can overflow! Breathing makes you feel - ecstatic, light, joyful, grateful. It can also bring up the typical so-called yuck - fear, sadness, anger, guilt, worry. Basically, breathing brings up your truth, so it's an ongoing process. One that takes work for me Every Single Day.

I'm not a personal trainer to "kick someone's ass" or take away the jiggle. I'm motivated by a) my ongoing personal experience of finding truth within my body, and b) the little bits and huge leaps of transformation that happen when someone connects with her body, her breath and her spirit - and essentially something Greater than herself.

So, despite what the breathwork and the connection that follows might bring up for someone (though I can guarantee you it can be juicy, sometimes scary, and mostly lovely in a life-changing way), my wish is for people to find movement they enjoy; then sure, complement and support that favorite movement with other types of physical training.

Move to feel good. Don't exercise to "get it over with" or to "mark it off your list". Practice joy within movement. Practice staying present. Practice slowing down. Practice stillness. Practice making movement (or stillness) as a way to connect with your innermost sense of being alive and free.

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