Week 6

I allowed myself to focus on observations of Interpersonal Interaction this week (the past 2 days).  I do find myself being more compassionate towards others when I have a regular yoga and meditation practice.  I think it all comes back to self-care allowing you to focus on caring for others and not being so drained from doing so.  I do have a hard time just listening to others and not thinking of how to respond.  If this is just a general conversation it is usually do to my self-perceived social awkwardness.  I want to make sure I am saying something appropriate and not something “weird”.  When it comes to people that are speaking of a problem or a tough experience, I tend to find myself wanting to help, to fix it.  I am naturally drawn towards problem solving and that can be distracting.  In my job, I troubleshoot issues, so often instead of fully listening to a customer, I already know their issue and am working towards a resolve in my head while they speak.  I hope my continued practice can allow me to be more present in conversation and ok if I need a moment after listening to formulate a response.  This will allow me to be fully engaged and helpful to others.

I think the tools for goal setting in the course were very usefully.  I do have a regular yoga practice and have included separate meditation most days.  I have also started focusing on using yoga as moving mediation, not just a body exercise, but a mind exercise.  I think setting mini goals to achieve my overall goal of a regular practice was very helpful.  This has helped me to not feel overwhelmed.  I set a daily goal of 30 minutes most days.  This allows me not to have to do a full hour long class on busy days, but to work within the time I have.  Some days it is 60 minutes, other days it is 30.  Some days it has only been 10.  I hope to be able to apply this in my life in other ways.  Whenever I set an overall goal, I will break it down to what do I need to do today, next week, etc.

My overall reflection of this course.  I previously posted this in the forum as well: I have found this course both challenging (in a good way) and enlightening. The times I found this course adding to my stress I was able to use the tools this course provided to handle that stress. I was able to take time to reflect as to why I was getting stressed. And it was rarely the course’s fault or the requirements and all involved changing my perception or approach to things. I found that a unique added benefit for me as it was real time trial with using the tools to appropriately manage my stress. I have a fairly decent background in yoga but still found the explanation of the basic poses to be helpful. It is nice to revisit these things as form can sometimes take a backseat whey are flowing and think you know it all.

My favorite part of this course was all the breathing and meditation guides. It was so helpful to me when dealing with things in life. Both the breathing exercises and the meditations allowed me to reflect upon myself and learn about how I handle things. It has also helped me to slow down and focus on self care more.

To add to this – I think this course had many benefits outside of just teaching yoga.  There was so much that can be applied to daily life.  The breathing and meditation, the stress management, the yoga for mind and body benefits, and the goal setting.  I ultimately really enjoyed this course (once I let go of my own issues – something this course helped me work on.)

I am very thankful for having found this course.

Namaste

Week 5

I have been sticking with my goal pretty well. My goal was to do class work, yoga, or mediation for at least 30 minutes a day.  This last week my work schedule made that bit more of a challenge.  Since work is probably one of the top reasons I need to manage my stress I did my best to still achieve my goal.  I am finding myself gaining more benefits from focus on yoga and meditation.  I am trying to be much more mindful of my yoga practice and focusing more on those benefits than just the physical benefits of a regular class.  I find myself almost craving even a short mediation.  I still find it hard to sit for longer than 10 minutes.   I plan to purchase a meditation cushion to assist with this.  Overall I think this course has helped me to establish a more regular mediation and yoga practice.  It has also taught me that my practice doesn’t always have to be long.  If I am having a busy and stressful day, even just 10 minutes makes a huge difference.

I did find the concept map assignment this week to be a little challenging.  It was outside of my comfort zone and was initially very stressful.  I had to take a break and come back to it on another day in order to not cause myself unnecessary and unhelpful stress. It was a nice review for me though to go back and remember all of the meditation and breathing exercises that have been outlined so far in the course.

Week 4

This has been the toughest week for me with the course material.  I am actually more committed to my yoga practice and a regular mediation practice.  That is really amazing to me and really the most important thing that I wanted out of this course.  My goal has helped me stick to this with spending 30 minutes on course material and/or yoga and mediation daily.

The off switch – This has been a useful practice for me.  I found myself turning to this several times this week.  When dealing with a crabby child (mine) and while in traffic (on several, several occasions).  It is an important thing for me to be able to recognize when I am annoyed and angry and allow it to be without acting upon it.  The off switch is giving me that ability to do just that.  I am definitely still a work in progress.

Exploring Common Humanity – This was really, really tough for me.  Perhaps one of my self limiting beliefs should have been “I am not good at meditating”.  Sitting with this for 30 minutes was impossible.  I tried to revisit this several times throughout the week.  It never went well and I just ended up frustrated.  I clearly need to keep coming back to this practice.  I think the fact that it was so hard signals the need to complete it.

This week I really enjoyed the interview with Dr. Kristin Neff.  I also enjoyed the exercises from her website (not that I did them all by any means).  I look forward to using her exercises more as time goes on.

Week 3 – My goal

Just a little recap, my goal is as follows: “My overall course goal is to complete the course with gained knowledge and understanding of yoga.  As well as establishing a daily yoga and meditation practice.   I plan to support my overall goal weekly by mindfully completing the course material.  Being present while watching the videos instead of just trying to complete my requirements. Reading the extra course material as time allows, without distraction.  I am going to support my weekly goals daily by logging in to the course for at least 30 minutes a day without other obligations or distractions until I have completed everything.   I will continue to focus on doing yoga and/or mediation for at least 30 minutes a day as well.”

My goal is important to me because it will allow me to be more present in my life.  My goal is mainly focused on self-care and I find that to be very important in my being a better person, mother, wife, friend, worker, society member, etc.  It will be very meaningful for me to succeed with my goal as it will allow me to focus more on self-care.

I do not think I need to adjust my goal much.  I have decided to start practicing yoga and/or mediation first thing in the morning.  Often I let me day get away from me because I am focused so much on talking care of others, or doing other things that I let the day get away from me.  I then find myself rushing to cram it in.  This weekend I had so many family and life obligations that I was focused on, I never found the time to allow myself to practice yoga.  This has left me in a worn out, frazzled, tired state.  This seems to have less of a mental benefit than when I am happily making time to do something I love.  I do love yoga.  I love that way it makes me feel physical and mentally.

I have had a little more difficulty sticking to my goal this week.  I have been ok with the course work.  I am having a much more difficult time sticking to the mediation practice.  I rush my yoga practice and I am not focusing on mindfulness.  It is good for me to return to evaluate my goal so I can focus on these issues and adjust accordingly.

Week 2

10/30/17:

My overall course goal is to complete the course with gained knowledge and understanding of yoga.  As well as establishing a daily yoga and meditation practice.   I plan to support my overall goal weekly by mindfully completing the course material.  Being present while watching the videos instead of just trying to complete my requirements. Reading the extra course material as time allows, without distraction.  I am going to support my weekly goals daily by logging in to the course for at least 30 minutes a day without other obligations or distractions until I have completed everything.   I will continue to focus on doing yoga and/or mediation for at least 30 minutes a day as well.

 

I have always prided myself on being an AMAZING multitasker.  I am only now realizing that this is not such a great thing.  Sure, doing the dishes while cooking dinner is good.  Listening to a lecture, while emailing and placing an order on Amazon…not so much.  I need this course.  I have had to give myself the time to focus on the coursework at hand.  To take a few deep breaths and watch the lectures and not also pick-up my phone to check something.  This has been a challenge for me.

 

I have made the written commitment to myself to become more aware of my time with technology. Why do I need to go online?  Am I trying to escape something?  If I’m tired, I can take a walk or do a few yoga poses.  If am stressed, I can mediate.  If I am bored, I could read a book or magazine instead.   I am interested in incorporating “the Wiring in the Pause Practice” daily.  Sometimes this is easier than others.  I mostly want to focus on this at night.  I would love to be able to use this to keep my from going down the Facebook rabbit hole so that I can be more focused and attentive with my family.  I think I shall also set a timer for those moments when I am purposefully allowing myself to use social media so that I do not get too caught up in losing time.

 

Update 11/02/17

So far the “Wiring in the Pause” has been helpful at night.   I am not able to use this much during the day.  I work on the computer and often am online.  I rarely have time to use my phone or any social media, etc.  If I do have the time, it is a much-needed break in my day.  I have found this break very helpful in making myself more aware of my habits.  I find myself limiting my social media use thus allowing me to be much more present in my evening life.  I still have a lot of work to do, but this is a helpful start.

I have been able to stick to my goal and I have been doing a 30 minute yoga session plus 5-10 minutes of mediation a day.  This is on top of keeping up with the course lectures and additional reading.  I find that when I do allow myself even a brief yoga practice it helps me both physically and mentally.  I have been feeling a little under the weather the last few days and find gentle yoga practice keep the energy flowing.

Update 11/6

I continued to monitor my habits over the weekend.  I was busy on Saturday and able to stay present and not find myself turning to my phone.  I am usually very conscious of using it in social settings any way.  Sunday was a problem.  I was doing well until about 9 o’clock on Sunday night.  Then I realized I was mindlessly scrolling through Facebook and Twitter.  I had probably been at it for 30 minutes before realizing it.  I am still very much a work in progress.   It has been very helpful to make a commitment to myself to be more present in the real world and to incorporate the pause before using my smart phone and I plan to continue this pattern to break myself out of my lazy habits for turning to my phone for escape.

These are my reflections (Week 1)

I found the off the mat practices this week to be very enlightening.  It is hard for me to sit with myself and just be.  My mini check-ins allowed me to realize just how frazzled and unfocused I was.  I was completing these both during the work day and at home in the evening.  I ended up doing more throughout the day just so I could see how I was.  I found that it wasn’t until almost bedtime that I could start relaxing.  This highlighted my need to find a way during the day to focus on myself and help with the anxiety or stress of life. Instead of just living with it or being consumed by it.  I have posted the instructions for the mini self check-in at my desk so I can continue to come back to it when needed.  I hope this will allow me to figure out a way to accept what I am feeling at the time and maybe use those moments to change the way I am thinking about things as sometimes, that is the problem.

I find the wheel of awareness fascinating.  I was always intimidating by meditation as I was under the wrong impression that you were supposed to think of nothing.  And that you failed if your mind wandered.  I have only recently had it described to me as more of a practice of awareness.  Of being aware and ok of the feelings or thoughts that come up while you are sitting with yourself.  The guided meditations based around the Wheel seem like they will be a great tool in beginning a solid meditation practice.  The fact that this practice was created as a reflection guideline to focus on internal and external environment to have a healthy mind really appeals to me.  I cannot wait to explore this more and reap the mental benefits of such a practice.

I continue to be very excited about this class. I love the focus that it has and the tools it is providing for lifelong changes.  I have been longing to learn more about the history and benefits of yoga.

The goal I set for the week was to focus 30 minutes a day minimum on course material, yoga, and mediation practice.

And so it begins

I hope this blog will serve as both a documentation of my adventures, misadventures, and my spiritual journey.  I hope this blog will provide laughs and make people think about their own journey in life.  I will try to keep this blog as light and real as possible.

I will mainly use this blog to journal along with the online course I am taking The Science and Practice of Yoga.