Start Where You Are......

First off I have pinched the title from one of my favourite writers/teachers, Pema Chodron, she has the ability to write simply and effectively without sugar coating anything but making everything in life make sense.

'Start where you are' seems like an obvious statement - where else would you start?  You can't move back or forward in time and start then!  But sometimes we don't want to accept where we are and to use a cliché - we want to run before we can walk.  The same is true of yoga practice and also teaching of yoga, you have to start where you are - you cannot be an experienced yoga practitioner or teacher in an instant, or maybe in a whole lifetime......so just start, that is all you need to do.

Recently I was chatting to my Mum about our yoga teaching and I mentioned to her how I cringe when I think back to my first teaching experiences (just covering a few classes for her to begin with) that I was barely scratching the surface, just teaching a few poses that I was reasonably confident with and really just feeling my way through.  When I compare the classes back then to my classes now (which I also question at times) I feel these days the classes have much more of my own yoga experiences and practice woven through, along with the several years of teaching experience I have so far, but I am always left feeling there is so much more to learn.  My Mum then reminded me of a class she taught right at the beginning of her yoga teaching career, I reckon it must have been about 1985 and I was in the class (aged 11 or 12 at the time) and she played some really upbeat 80s pop and the yoga postures were sequenced rapidly together, I can remember really building up a sweat!  This was the height of the 80s aerobics trend and she said she felt that it needed to be 'jazzed' up in order to sell the idea to people!  Back then yoga was not really a mainstream practice.

Of course pretty soon she settled into teaching her very traditional yoga classes, with waiting lists of people wanting to join, but she too had to start where she was then.  She is still teaching yoga and the classes are no longer accompanied by Bananarama and Duran Duran songs!

So remember when you begin your yoga practice (or anything for that matter) you just have to start where you are, things will inevitably change and you will most probably look back and question decisions you have made, but remember all we have is now, there really is no point in looking back, or too far forward for that matter.  Just start where you are........take that initial step and begin.......

Growing Up and Dealing with Change......

As we slip into September, I can already taste a bit of Autumn in the air!  I know everyone will be blogging about the change of season and I dare say I am bit early with this observation but I can definitely feel a change in the atmosphere.  I have always loved the transition from summer to autumn, it always signifies change.....going back to school, summer holidays just a distant memory, time to get the woolly jumpers out - I do love a snuggly jumper!  For me this year it seems altogether more significant, my youngest son starting school, my eldest son moving into the juniors and I am adding a parent and toddler yoga class to my schedule. 

It will be so strange with both boys at school, more time to plan my classes, more time to study, more time for my own yoga practice.  I am also feeling the need to de-clutter the house, I tend to feel I can think more clearly when the house is clutter free and my desk is not hidden amongst papers.  I don't know a great deal about Feng Shui but I know the basic rules are if something is broken either mend it or throw it away, and if you haven't used something in a long while then get rid of it.  This is fine for things like an unused fondue set or an old sandwich toaster but I struggle a little with things like baby blankets and toys that the boys have played with a lot.  I realise that I need to practice some 'non-attachment' to these items, but I am a sentimental old soul!!  I have done really well getting rid of our wheelie bug bee toy which my eldest had since he was one and then my youngest used too.  My other half convinced me to put it on eBay and sell it.  It was quite difficult for me to do this but the lady who bought it seemed so delighted that I felt really good about some other kids getting as much joy out of it as my children had  (but I still miss that little bee sometimes, he had been around us for 7 years!)

I do have a box of treasures, things which I cannot throw away, the little cards from the hospital from when the boys were born, their first sleep-suits, many books and photos.   In my opinion it is ok to keep these things so we can look at them when the boys are all grown up and remember all those special times.

Being human involves times of change, nothing stays the same and for the most-part I do love the excitement and challenge of change.  As human beings I think we need it for our spiritual growth and development.  That said, this particular period of change seems very significant for me and a little sad as my babies are now not babies any more and are growing up fast, so my mission now is to do my best to help them to cope with the challenges of change in their own lives so they can welcome it and not fear it........and perhaps not be as sentimental as their silly old Mum!!!

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