Staying Present - The Ever-present Conundrum

The title of my next book...Yoga. A moving meditation or how to meditate for someone who can barely slow down to eat... 

I have been practicing yoga for almost 20 years now. 

That seems like a long, long time to me, but in reality, I did not begin this practice until well into midlife. 

I am a type-A on steroids kind of human. I never stop. My mind races from one topic to another. For example, during COVID shut-downs, I continued to teach, sell real estate and immediately started studying and then decided to write a book. I barely took a pause. 

In mid-life, when I started to become aware of my health, I went to a gym and began working out in between my busy, busy schedule as a mom and a real estate broker. At this gym, someone convinced me to try a yoga class. 

The class was wonderful. It was a vinyasa style flow, energetic and fast. The teacher played loud music and wore a microphone. She was amazing and beautiful, and I would have crossed oceans if she told me to

So I kept going back to the class.

And then one day, I realized that during my yoga class, I had not thought about anything else for the entire hour. In Savasana, I almost fell asleep... 

I began to track this, thinking it was probably a fluke.

But it wasn't. Day after day, practice after practice, I was finding presence. The focus on breath and body took my crazy, busy mind off-line.

So I decided to challenge myself!!! (OF COURSE I DID) and I went to a restorative class. This was insanely quiet and trusting the teacher, and the process by this point, I focused on my breath, I lost myself in a sea of muscles releasing and joints softening. Eventually, I almost fell asleep. 

Stunned, I thought again that this had to be a fluke, so I returned again and again, and eventually was practicing energetic yoga almost daily and restorative yoga weekly. For me, this became my sustenance. My presence. My lifeline. I was able to get off anti-anxiety meds and became healthier physically as well as mentally... so of course, I had to open a yoga studio!!!!!

Namaste,

Lisa