Monthly Archives: September 2010

You can’t stop the beat…

Darlings,

There's no doubt that one of my prime motivators in life is listening to Broadway show-tunes. Ok, well, singing Broadway show tunes.... it’s my other life when I'm not a superhero and it fuels me with that high energy crescendo we all love in life to get us through the day to day with passion.

I was listening to the Hairspray Soundtrack today while practicing my inversions when I got a message through my blue nose stud from a mom in Brentwood who was balancing her new born while dealing with a young one going off to school for her first day.

She was frazzled and stressed out.

I was listening to this high-energy music and thinking, it's much like life. When we are surrounded by high energy, we ARE high energy. It's like an athlete listening to hip-hop while training on the punching bag. We need that chutzpah to keep us going. But what if our outside world does not reflect our inside world?

This mommy had her own high-energy music inside her head and it did NOT have a happy melody.

All the music in the world won't help us if we are stressed!

We need to slow down our mind and body in order to speed up efficiently.

In my mommy’s case, we need to find the stabilizing energy, the center of the spinning top; to keep still while all that's around us is hurried.

Take a moment. Take a deep breath. Take a look around and take each moment as one full nugget. Don't DO many things at once. It will make you feel spread to thin. If you can get help, enlist it! From neighbors, spouses, friends, family. Especially if you have a little one and a not so little one going off to school.

It's important to balance the difference between the two.

And then there's you.

When is the you time?

You need to have you time in order to have 'little one' time. You can't give energy if your stores of energy are tapped out.

No mom can DO it all.

If you are with the kiddies all day, make sure when the other half comes home that you designate at least 10 minutes for you to decompress in another room. Meditate, dance to Lady Gaga, and take a bath. You need at least a little time to separate yourself from your duties.

Everyone needs this.

If you are a single mom or don't have support, take the time when one kid is off at school and use the other little one's nap time to find your respite.

I know...too much to do.

You need to do the laundry, return phone calls, and finish a project for work, whatever. 10 minutes will give you more minutes in the long run if you take it for yourself now.

Use this time wisely, not to do anything else but self-care. Even if it's changing the polish on your toenails. Make WHATEVER experience you take for yourself, mindful. Take this time to be fully present in taking care of what you need to clear the palate for the next surge of duties you need to take care of the rest of the hours of the day.

I think it's funny,

As a super hero, I have no family or spouse and yet I find that there is less and less time for Lady time and all the time to teach and be a superhero.

So, I don't know what it's like to have a family relying on me, but I do know what it's like to have many responsibilities and obligations that I am thankful for. I never have a day off. I don't complain, because I do what I love, but I sure as heck take moments in the day to conserve my energy for where it counts.

If you are a mom, you are blessed. But in that blessing, you must conserve to make sure that blessing remains consistent for yourself and those you have created. You are brilliant in your creation so make sure you are at peak to nurture that creation and reward yourself. You accomplish so much every second of the day. It's astounding what you do! So, do, but also, BE.

If Lady has no energy in the well, even the yoga mat cape won't fly.

So, how does Lady, how do I, make it work?

I call it stealing. It's legal, though.

I steal moments in the day...to just be!

Think of your energy as cash in the bank. Don't spend it on anything that isn't WORTH it, today.

If you don't have the time to run errands or deal with a 'to do' on your list, save it for another day or enlist help. There will always be to do's and with many of the mommies I work with, there will always be stress. As long as you expect that, your time will be limited and you will have stress AND it will give you more incentive to 'steal', 'take', 'save' time for yourself. Stick that time in your bliss account and you will be rich!!

Trust me. Too many years I have worked with over-stressed executives and mommies. The obligations in this day and age are great and they are only getting greater. If you don't find a 'day off', steal or save moments in a day where you can, whether you are a mom or just a super busy person, or a superhero.

I find, the more I can schedule, the more TIME I find in the day as pockets of respite for.

Put things "in the book." Some things can be negotiable and other things, non-negotiable.

If an appointment is pressing for another, so is one for you...even if it's 15 minutes.

The city of Los Angeles is filled with things you can fill 15 minutes with.

I find that even after long hours in traffic, because I can't always use my yoga mat cape, is salved with 15 minutes walking the clean aisles of CVS or Whole Foods. I may not 'need' anything, but there is something very rewarding, for me, by combing the aisles and looking at the colors of vibrant fruit and vegetables or beauty products. Just looking, sets the mind at ease. Try it.

Looking at life-fruit and vegetables, will calm the nerves-being with things close to the earth is so rewarding. AND, it's something you can do with your little guys. Looking at rows of neatly organized merchandise will soothe the mind and relax you. I'm serious. I'm also a Virgo, but even 'lil G has tried this and it works. Observing something outside of yourself that is still and calm is good. Go to a park and look at the trees. Walk around the block or just walk to your garden or front gate of your apartment and look at the cars at the light, the rows of cars parked on the street. Take in all that you see, the flowers that line the curb or the lush trees - that's it. That alone will GROUND your energy.

It's like if you are on a boat and are seasick. The captain will tell you to look at the horizon to keep you still.

That's all you need, just a little, to keep you in the moment and ready to take on the world.

These are all options 1-5-10 minutes to stabilize the stress of your everyday, alone or with others. Turn off the phone and be.

I'm not saying it's easy, just try it and see. If it doesn't work, let me know.

You can't stop the beat, but you can stop to be.

Yours,

Lady

Overcoming Obstacles….

Dear Oprah,

The idea of revisiting the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is not the most up-beat thing to talk about in a yoga class. But, I think it's important, as always, to revisit the past to see where we came from.
First - where we are now...from so long ago, New Orleans and the surrounding areas have come so far in rebuilding.
So far- the culture of the United States has banned together to see to it that we 'get back' as a community.
But also, we need to remember that WE are still in need...always.
It's a process to rebuild and five years goes fast.
And we're not out of the woods.
Woods.
We still need help.
But, where are WE at?
What trials have we had personally that fog our perspective.
The idea that our country is in need is a definite.
But we also have personal trials that we deal with on a daily basis that have just as much weight as Katrina, but they aren't newsworthy because they are our own.
In the yoga studio, we have signed a contract with our selves to come into a room and work out together what we need to progress ourselves forward.
Every single trial is just as worthy as the next, individually and communally.
So, we come to the room and work on it together. That is important.
It is important that we remember what has happened in our history as a culture so that we have the strength to work towards our future in passion and stay rooted in strength and security in the moment of our present.
Without the timeline of these moments - trials and wins, we cannot see where we are and where we are going.
I am not happy for what has happened tragically in our past and lives lost whether it be through war or natural disaster, but in this tragedy, there is a gift to bring us together in peace, see where we are in our own lives and move forward with the passion and truth and guidance in trial towards the most powerful future we can create.
Living in NYC during 9/11 was not a good time. I wasn't teaching yoga then. But those events forced me to look at my life. So many lives lost. What do I have in my life?
What do I do with my life. If so many lives weren't lost and so much destruction didn't happen, it wouldn't have made me a yoga teacher. I wouldn't have been a yoga teacher had it not been for 9/11. No question.
In destruction, we have the choice in tragedy to look at our lives, how precious and lucky we are to be breathing and living, that we make the decisions we need to make to live the best lives we can for those that didn't have the chance.
I remember Katrina. Not the happiest thing you want to bring into a yoga class when your student is running late, the car has broken down, the kid has a summer cold, you are in a fight with the husband or had an altercation with a road rager on the freeway on the way to your mat, but, it puts everything in perspective, doesn't it?
I know, as a student AND as a teacher, we all have a moment before we enter the room. To be strong enough not to judge the moments before and just work out the moments within, is the greatest gift you can give yourself and the others in class.
You have no idea...what trials someone is dealing with. Some people cry in class or yell in class or leave in class.
We all have hurricanes within us, daily. It's important that we support and encourage rebuilding from the destruction so that we can find that sweet sunny calm after the storm whether it's five years post or five minutes.
Yours,
Lady