Lose Your Way
Posted: July 1, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, Canada, Canada Day, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, musings, natural, paleo, passion, whole foods, WOD, yoga 11 CommentsOh! that gentleness! how far more potent is it than force-
No healthy path I explore is going to lead to having “success” waiting at the end. During the course of my 37 years, in my experience, the long-term success of my path depends largely on the amount of gentleness I bring to my “failures.” Spending time exploring my path requires enormous amounts of energy to confront and then walk directly into discomfort, to shift away from prior habits. Fighting with myself drains much-needed energy, quickly. Gentleness, on the other hand, creates internal harmony and allows my inner energy to flow, to be regenerated, released. I’m not sure of a singular event that made it possible for me to accept myself to the degree that I do now. I still screw up daily, although I do know that acceptance has left my inner landscape truly a gentle place, a place for me to find myself once again.
At some point wandering around this vast path, I lost interest in protecting myself: Worrying endlessly about working out, staying fit, eating right, recklessly practicing yoga, competing in frivolous races, caring more about my outward appearance than loving my inner-self. Whether it was by finding grace after constantly injuring myself, self-acceptance of where I was at, or the help of some close friends. I came to full ownership of the “path“, completely free of the: “should I do this” or “I have to do more”.
The most empowering aspect of inner alignment is the ability to arrive back onto the path when I fall off. My old habits still remain, as hard as we try there is no erasing old “habits“. When I am not conscious of my actions, when my resilience is perilously low and I feel helpless in the face of daily challenges? I still tense up from the fear of the unknown and lose connection with myself and family members. Even in these most trying moments, my deep commitment calls me back onto the path.
Notes:
Happy Canada-Land Day folks, please be well and take care … Eh!!!
CultFit 
Inner alignment, I like that. It’s easy for me to get off that path and freak out over things. Nothing good comes from it. Great post and have a great week!
I’ll be talking a little bit more about this tomorrow: Exposing wounds to others and setting expectations. Addressing this early on as personal trainers, teachers and instructors can lead to a much more fulfilling relationship. We are gearing up here for a wonderful 4th of July and I sincerely hope you and your family are doing the same. 🙂
Seems we all need to realign ourselves on the path from time to time. And it’s not always easy getting back.
In yoga, I think of it as coming into a pose looking like a pretzel. When we don’t have the correct optimum alignment according to our own natural skeletal architecture, whether rushing to get into the pose or for some, hating the pose, we don’t experience that asana for what it truly is… other than soreness and probably pain and injuries.
We need to remind ourselves that rushing is not a factor; but progression is. We need to remind ourselves that when we don’t get it this time, it doesn’t make us less being a yogi.
Much like the path. Much like life.
Happy Canada Day, Cult! May your Namaste be brighter than the fireworks later. =)
Sometimes when I open up and write a post like today, I sit back with bated breath awaiting the comments to pour in. And, I am so happy you took the time today to share such a powerful and profound thought with all of us! As a humble dude, thank you so much! 🙂
Do you read Dr. Seuss? I love Dr. Seuss. And though I can’t find this quote on his books, he is the one being credited for it.
“Be who you are and say what you feel. For those that matter, they don’t mind. And for those that mind, they don’t really matter.”
This is a quote where my healing began… that tiny spark of recognition by me FoR me. How odd is that?! And the odder it got, the better I felt; the better my heart felt. That’s what matters – it’s the heart, dude! 😉
I love Dr. Seuss! “Fox in Socks” is one of my personal favorites as well as “Oh the Places You’ll Go”. Something about reading these books now really resonates with me, yes, I’m an adult who likes reading children’s books (with my Son of course)! 🙂
I miss that with my son. Awesome moments. =)
This comment thread reels my brain into another spin-off…
Keep doing what makes your heart happy; not what others will think about it. It’s not always an easy route. I’ve been ridiculed, mocked, banned for following my heart, for walking my path. To this day, the stigma lingers. I want to say that I don’t fluckin’ care! But that’s anger and hurt responding.
I can only say, “I don’t mind”… … … that much… … maybe a tad… but I’m okay. =)
[…] as a path of spiritual practice for myself. Most recently when I wrote about the freedom of committing to a path, I wasn’t expecting to be pushed back to the very beginning. This is precisely what happened […]
Why do you feel hesitant having a new beginning? The Universe is giving you the opportunity to change something that didn’t work quite well before. More so, a lesson flashing in neon colours for you, us to learn that we didn’t see, worse, accept. Be sooo grateful when you have this chance. Do not look at it as rework. It never is. It’s a new chapter in your storybook… and guess who the friggni’ awesome author is??!!
Every so often I reach a point physically where my mind takes over from my body, telling it can do more than it actually can. This past Saturday I flirted with disaster: Long – Up tempo bike ride, yoga class and the afternoon at the pool. That’s just not me anymore and luckily, while sitting at the side of the pool splashing my toes about, starring at the scars on both my knees, ankles, life … Watching my Son play gleefully – as a child should. I was happy just being me, where I was at. 🙂
Things are in influx. Life fluctuates. Not because something happened in the past doesn’t mean you can’t do it again, especially with something you are passionate about. We like going back “in the game” once again. It’s what drives us. Without it, for most ‘active’ people, anything else is stagnant.
Flirting with disaster is awesome for me. A simple play, you know those automatic doors where you pull the string or press the button then eventually closes? I like sliding myself through as the door classes. I do it often where I even get upset when someone would push the button again. Have I been hurt doing that? Hell yeah! The doors would attack my shoulders, least that’s how I see it.
It’s knowing when to stop. Not listening to the mind telling ourselves to push, to slide through the closing doors. Gut feel, Cult. The body would tell us when we need to stop. Not this day, it would say. Slide again tomorrow.
Not ever feeling guilty whether you did flirt with disaster or not. You made a decision, from your heart, then go. Your instinct would tell you otherwise. Maybe this is what you flirted with aFTeR your crazy Saturday, and then heaving a sigh of relief that nothing bad happened. We get those guilt feelings on pursuing versus being still. It’s being able to feel alright whatever we decide on. I know, it’s not easy. But when it happens often, only means we haven’t mastered the lesson… yet.