The Junk Drawer

OFF THE MAT

Weekly Thought Offering:
“The best way to choose what to keep and what to throw away is to take each item in one’s hand and ask: ‘Does this spark joy?’ If it does, keep it. If not, dispose of it. This is not only the simplest but also the most accurate yardstick by which to judge.”
-Marie Kondo

Weekly Journal Prompts:
Right now I am thinking about….
It brings/ It does not bring me joy….

Since it does not bring me joy I will release it

Weekly Mantra:
I am filled with gratitude and joy.

JUMP TO THE FLOW BELOW OR READ ON!

Hello Sadhakas!
And hello March! This week we begin our journey with half-moon. March is a long month. And for those of us who live in cold climates it’s a LOOOOONNNNNGGGG month. It can feel endless as we wait for warmth to return. But here is what I also love about this month. It is an amazing time to prepare and to manifest for the days ahead. We can use the last 5 weeks of almost certain indoor living to mindfully prepare for a light and joyful Spring, both internally and externally.
And so, this week we begin our journey with a very challenging pose. Not only does she ask us to balance but she asks us to do it in a plane that our bodies don’t spend a lot of time in. The side body, the plane of “now” energetically (we explored this during baby camel month too). To get there with ease we need full mobility in the hips, so this week we are deep diving into them.
Here’s what is so fascinating about the hips, they are crazy powerful, they can move in all directions and there are just so many muscles that cross over the hip joint, it can be dizzying. The possible downside to all of those options and all of those muscles is, well, clutter. We don’t really know what the hips are doing, and we certainly don’t move them as much as they can be moved so the hips end up being a bit of a “junk drawer” in a lot of our bodies.

This week we change that both ON and OFF THE MAT.
This week ON THE MAT, I ask you to awaken to what the hips can do. To awaken to what they are doing. And to awaken what we are storing in them. To mindfully declutter, to Spring clean if you will ;)
As you pause in the moments of release, (feel free to pause the video and be there as long as you need) allow yourself to hold the feelings and memories one at a time in your hand and to decide if they spark joy. If they don’t to begin the process of releasing them.

As a reminder, muscles don’t stretch. You can’t look at a muscle and say “lengthen!”, in the same way that you can tell it to contract, and it will. To “stretch”, a muscle needs actually to release. It needs an opposing muscle, gravity, or an outside source to encourage it to let go. So, as you speak to your body this week, keep that in mind. Don’t demand that your muscles get longer and more mobile. Invite them to by finding out what you are holding and release it.

My guess is this will trickle OFF THE MAT and you just may actually go through your literal junk drawer too ;).

With great respect and love,

Nicole