Out of “I have to” and into “I get to”

OFF THE MAT

Weekly Thought Offering:
Shifting out of “I have to” and into “I get to” takes a burden off of your shoulders and puts a peaceful joy into your heart.

Weekly Journal Prompt:
(free write in your journal or other safe space starting with the following prompts)

I feel stressed when...
I feel most balanced when....
When I think about my challenging place as an “I get to” space I feeI..

Weekly Mantra:
I am of service without attachment.
I serve with pure love in my heart.

JUMP TO THE FLOW BELOW OR READ ON!

Hello Sadhakas!

This week ON THE MAT we are in our final week of Eagle pose. This is a week for reflection, for putting it all together, for revisiting the pieces that are the most important for you and perhaps the most elusive in order to explore the energy of the pose. Each of the yoga asanas (poses) have specific prescriptive benefits. They create a current of energy with the body that can increase or decrease certain aspects of energy to create a desired effect. It's one of the most amazing things about yoga and likely why it has lasted so long! Eagle pose is grounding, it balances being overheated or under heated. It is also invigorating. As discussed, all the way back in week one, it challenges our ability to be all wound up in knots and yet also stay laser focused and balanced. Just like an Eagle in flight.

OFF THE MAT, I ask you to take it one step deeper. I found myself going back to the Bhagavad Gita this week. The Gita is a profoundly pertinent text for us right now (maybe always) because it speaks to the spiritual practice as part of a real life, one full of really hard choices and battles. In the beginning Arjuna (one of the main characters and a great warrior) is speaking to Krishna (his charioteer and greatest teacher) and he is sharing how distraught he is and how much he just wants to give up, quit, and do nothing. Krishna's response to him is to ACT. He MUST ACT! Arjuna is told he must do his dharma. Krishna spends a good deal of time describing right action and dharma (one's life purpose). But he says something specifically about action that I want us to try to channel this week ON and OFF THE MAT. Krishna says:

“Giving up attachment, perform actions as a matter of duty, for by working without being attached to the fruits, one attains the Supreme.” BG 3:19

Basically, he says acting in service, without attachment to the outcome is the key to sustained joy. In our real lives what does this mean? It means the more we focus on what we have to do, the more stressful we will feel about all we have to do. If we can shift into the perspective of love and of service for those in our homes, lives, communities and beyond, then we reap the benefit of a true spiritual path and of joy that is lasting.

I don't know about you, but I have a LOT of things to do right now. A way out from under that weight is through service to others and the perspective of giving and doing with humility and love. Even in eagle pose, all wrapped up and bound up, there is a choice to lift up to the heavens or bend in service. That is BIG! May we all find that shift, that courage, and that flight this week!

With great respect and love,

Nicole