Yes, I Forgot To Teach My Yoga Class-Embrace Self Reflection

We are always going to make mistakes.
We are going to continue to make choices that are not the best.
There will always be times that those choices will affect others, in a bad way.

I know that.

So what do we do with that?

We do better the next time around.

How?

Self Reflection

This is something that often times in this wonderful society of ours is left to others. My experience both for myself and observing others is that we don’t SELF reflect, but OTHER reflect. We first look outside of ourselves for what we have to do next. We look outward to know what’s inside. We look to the mirror of friends, family, media, etc. to either affirm or console us. Yes, this is incredibly important within our society, BUT it’s not the first step.

First step: Self Reflection

Taking the time to honestly look inside, and to ask questions that refine the deepest inner knowing, so that next time, that innate knowing will kindly inform us what the next, and ever more refined choice will be. Self reflection after making a mistake is challenging, it’s not comfortable and it’s definitely not pretty. In the midst of this reflection there are feelings of despair, anxiety, fear, anger- you get the idea . That’s part of our divine nature. It’s in the dark that we can begin to see the light. It’s through our willingness to step in there that we can better look outward. I find that writing is one of the ways in which I step inside. I look in and write from my heart, what has either already been resolved or what is in the process of being resolved.

The more truthful the expression the more that others can relate…and thus, the community aspect comes into play. Usually, what we receive from the conversation, either by affirming, consoling or condemning is that we are not alone. We get tons of guidance and advice to refine and deepen our choice making process. We wouldn’t be able to really digest the wealth of information that is the community if we hadn’t become more efficient in our own discernment, that is, self reflection.

Forgetting to go teach class? That absolutely sucked. Seriously. It made me feel horrible. I was anxious, disappointed, scared and angry. Those sort of emotions don’t really resonate well with me. Most of you know me, if not personally, through my yoga podcast classes or simply by browsing through this blog, so you know that I’m not the  ‘beat myself up’ kinda girl, or the ‘sit around moping and feeling sorry for myself’ kinda girl. I would say that 95% of the time I’m GREAT! When I’m not, I welcome it 🙂 as I know that I ‘m going to be doing some great learning, some great knowing.

I wrote yesterday’s post because I believe the process of stepping into the uncomfortable places deserves to be expressed. In fact it must. So many times we cover from the world all the negative experiences, especially if we are in ‘the public eye’. Sort of like keeping up appearances. As much knowledge as I may have, as much innate joy that I may posses doesn’t keep me from totally messing up and feeling bad about it. That’s the gift of being human 🙂 Perfection is imperfect. It is exactly who we are, unfinished. We get a chance to strive to create the best of ourselves all the time.

My forgetfulness has given me the opportunity to find new ways to do ‘what I used to be able to do.’ How many times have we said that when we practice yoga? “I used to be able to touch my toes”, “I used to be able to do handstands,” “I used to be more flexible.” Are we willing to do the best job that we can, to make the optimal choice given our current circumstances? Can we be the best of ourselves right now? This is not easy, as life is always changing, but are we willing to shift our perspective, and use what we do have to our advantage, now.

That’s how we step into the flow of Grace.

Thank you everybody for the love!!!!

Tagged as: empowerment, healing, health, Inspiration, learning, mistakes, optimism, self knowledge, self reflection, yoga students