Something's Shifted for Sure

Since I've switched from 6 am to 9:30 am Bikram three times a week, my body is happier but my mind keeps going into judgment about the vast difference in the quality of practice between the two times.

The 6 am group is steady, consistent, supremely focused, aware and respectful of the concept of yoga.

The 9:30 group is all over the place.  This morning a woman walked in nearly 20 minutes late and planted herself in the front row.  Then she proceeded to fidget through the remainder of the class.

At first, I was really, really angry.  What nerve!  It's bad enough to come in so inexcusably late, but then why not take an inconspicuous spot in the back row?  And since she was in the very front, why was it so important to keep adjusting her top, her bottom, her hair ...

About half-way into the 90-minute practice, my attention was drawn to the woman on her left who was also in my direct line of vision.  If I was angry, she was furious.  We caught each other's eye a time or two and signaled our mutual disgust.  It felt good to have a companion in this unfortunate experience and I felt myself relax a little.

 Then, at one point, I noticed the Fidgeting Late Woman checking out her toes.  She continued to check out her toes as though that was the most compelling, fascinating activity ever invented.  I couldn't help it, I started to laugh.  I mean really laugh.  The Teeth-Gritting Woman glanced at me and kept gritting.  I stopped laughing but it was too late:  the anger was completely gone.  And so was my connection to the Teeth-Gritting Woman; we had lost the bond created by our wounds because I wasn't wounded anymore. 

I love yoga. 

The Alphabetical Path ... and then some

I love individual handwriting coaching sessions.  For some reason, I've had more private handwriting clients from Canada than the United States.  Perhaps people in Canada haven't lost themselves in technology as much.

With the advent of Skype, I've been able to connect very personally with handwriting clients from all over.  It's been great fun.

Vimala System coaching as a stand-alone offering opens the door to tremendous personal, professional and spiritual growth.  When I gave "L" the Declaration of the Letter L, it opened up a whole new avenue of self-exploration for her.  Here's what she wrote in an email:

What a fantastic declaration!  Thank you for sending that along with the suggestion for daily practice.  I look forward to my "quiet" handwriting practice and will also incorporate your suggestion for a movement based meditation.  I live quite close to the beach, so I'm thinking a morning walk in the warm months would really start the day off right :)

 It was such a pleasure meeting with you and feeling your compassionate energy.  I would love to explore some other techniques with you in the future.

Thank you again!

 L.

What is the Letter L Declaration?  My life is an ongoing conversation with my soul. 

 

I may be prejudiced, but it is my favorite of all the Letter and Ligature Declarations.

I'm baaaack!

I was astounded to discover that it has been more than a year since I added to my Blog. Now that my daughter’s Big Fat Armenian Wedding is officially over, I have no excuses.

                 

I am rededicating myself to sending regular posts, especially using this forum to pass on the wonderful feedback I get from my satisfied clients.

                 

Here’s part of an email I received from the mother of one of my middle school clients who was having a hard time adjusting to the demands of a new school:

Thank you, Lucy, so much for meeting with us. K really did get a lot out of her time with you. She listens to your CD almost every night before bed. Her anxiety that started at the beginning of school has basically disappeared - yay! - and she's smiling and more playful again now (her old self).

A Great Endorsement!

J. S. sent the following comment in response to the column in my September newsletter:

This was a great read, Lucy. Fascinating and informative. Thx. A friend of mine, her hubby could never fly and he went to a hypnotherapist w/ great success. It definitely works. I let go of 55 exces lbs that way too!!

Thanks so much for writing, J.S.  I love hearing mind-body success stories!

In Today's Email

Nearly ten years later, I still listen to your tapes, but they are entirely shot! I’m dealing with some challenges right now and was hoping to come in for a session or two and upgrade to CDs.

It was good to hear from "Betty" again. I love that she's been benefitting from the hypnotherapy tapes I made for her so many years ago and that she thought of me now that she needs some help once again.

People often ask me if the results of my work are permanent. Well, yes and no. My work helps create a solid foundation of wellness that lasts. At the same time, our challenges may change as we age and grow and sometimes that foundation needs to be tweaked to meet those new challenges.

Argh!

Obviously none of us in the 6 am Bikram class is working as hard as R. Otherwise, why would the rest of us be so silent? Especially during final savassana.

Breathe, Lucy, breathe.

It cracks me up when people say to me,"Oh, you must be so calm all the time with the work you do." Hah! Those people should have seen me stomping out of class this morning, seething with resentment and dripping with judgment.

I do recognize that R is a good teacher for me. I should be able to tune him out and just go about my business in total peace and serenity.

Well, it's not happening that way.

Good Stress

Our daughter's boyfriend proposed to her last week and now she is engaged. My husband and I are beyond thrilled.

We are also really goofy. Last night my husband walked around the entire house looking for a bottle top that ended up being in his hand the whole time. This is my usually grounded-like-a-rock husband.

This morning in my Bikram Yoga class I caught myself in the the wrong posture, totally out of sync with the rest of the class because my mind had drifted to plans for a family party we'll be hosting in a few weeks.

I keep having to pull my breath down out of my upper chest into my belly. My daily Vimala Alphabet practice is showing some weird patterns that I have to stop and fix as I write.

It occurs to me that this wonderful development in our lives has activated the ancient fight-or-flight response that's usually associated with bad things, not good ones. This good-stress factor kind of sneaked up on me, but now that I'm aware of it, I am doing my best to address it the same way as I teach my anxious clients to address theirs:

1. Take a deep, deep breath! Make sure I'm breathing in through my nose every time and doing my best to draw the breath all the way down into my belly.

2. Pay attention to grounding myself. I like to imagine roots coming down through the soles of my feet and into the earth.

3. Go to bed earlier -- in case my brain wakes up at 3 am (as it has done a few times already) and decides to walk me through all the details it thinks I need to be aware of right then and there.

4. Pay attention to the direction of my thoughts. What is it about wedding plans that generate catastrophic thinking?

5. Write everything down. At least one comic incident illustrated quite clearly that our minds cannot be trusted to hold new information.

6. Remember to laugh!

7. As much as possible, keep JOY as the launching pad for any and all planning. It's all too easy to get sucked into should's that rob me of my perspective, my energy and my sense of self.

If you have anything to add to my list, please comment. I plan to post updates as we go through the days counting down to October 6, 2012. What fun!