A few days ago I was thinking about my May newsletter. The struggle of what to write gave rise to a familiar tension. But instead of letting it spiral into the usual storm of doubt, I turned to something unexpected — a quiet gesture to soothe the moment and still the noise.
What do you do when you HAVE to complete a task and get stuck? Stuck, unmotivated, willing to try but nothing’s coming. You know the feeling?
On the flip side, have you ever felt the opposite feeling? The delight of a cool idea arriving in your mind, and just running with it? The lack of effort and the ease with which it flows can be exhilarating.
But, yep, here I was in that first stuck place. Sitting at my computer waiting for inspiration to appear.
Oh, wait. My Yoga and meditation practice has taught me that I can pause, I can close my eyes and feel the breath moving me, through me, around me. Then I can at least acknowledge that I am literally being inspired… I am being breathed.
So I sat. Breathing, waiting, waiting, … anything?
Then, an inspiration, you might call it an impulse or your inner voice, did appear and it said ‘Put this away and stop the efforting.’ What? Stop efforting?? Doesn’t everything we do require effort?
Normal routine says push, push, push. Try harder, more effort, no pain, no gain.
But at this moment my inner voice said ‘Do something out of your normal routine.’
So, for the first time under these circumstances, I did something completely new. I stopped pushing. I stopped efforting. And I did something different.
I turned a white noise machine on, set a timer and allowed the quiet focus to permeate… If you’re curious to read more about my personal meditation practice, you can find the blog post here.
Moving from angst to ease asks you to familiarize your body and mind to ‘the art of allowing”. Doing something out of the ordinary, changing ingrained habits is NOT easy!!
The sequence looks something like this:
1. A Desire arises to create something new.
2. Desire moves to Hope, hoping we can create something new.
3. Hope moves to a Belief that yes, I’ve heard that it’s possible, so I can too.
4. From Belief to Knowing that you have the tools, the skill to move you.
When we arrive in that secure place of knowing that we have tools to create the life we want, it is such a relief!
At the Yoga Garden we practice a style of Yoga rooted in the lineage of TKV Desikachar and Krishnamacharya. This tradition emphasizes a personalized approach — adapting the practice to meet your unique needs! It’s not just about what happens on the mat; it’s about carrying the principles of Yoga into your everyday life.
Learning to move from AAAngst to eaZZZe can be wonderful!
Much love to each of you, Patty
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