Don’t Be a Knee-Jerk
Thought Offering
Pain that has not yet come is avoidable
Yoga Sutras 2:16 (Rev Carrera)
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Suffering is optional
Yoga Sutra 2:16 (Sri. Dharma Mittra )
Weekly Journal Prompts
I saw myself have a knee jerk reaction when…
I Think this area is so charged for me because…
What I would like my response to be in those moments are…
The next time this comes up I can…
Weekly Mantras
I choose love right now, I let go of all else
Hello Sadhakas*!
Happy Sunday! This week we say hello to Valentine’s Day OFF THE MAT and ON THE MAT, we say hello to week 3 of Camel Pose. Both ON AND OFF THE MAT we are exploring how our knee-jerk default patterns and choices play a role in keeping us stuck and keep us from experiencing our full capacity for the experience of and open heart.
The inspiration I wanted to share with you this week is a sutra that means a lot to me and one I hold very close to my heart. Many of you know my physical yoga studio in NYC was called Yoga 216. Not because it was our area code or zip code (which I was asked often) but because this sutra has the ability to help us, on so many levels, and in so many ways transform our lives.
Pain is avoidable. Can you even imagine that? I’m not saying bad things won’t happen but I am saying we have a choice in how we respond to things and that changes our experience of them. First, we have to become aware of our reactions to things and see how they are bringing us pain and keeping us from love, then we can make a different choice.
ON THE MAT, we are looking at a small but very, very, important part of our camel pose; how we get into it.
“Take your hands to the floor back behind you” your teacher might say as you move from standing/sitting on the shins into your camel pose. But have you ever noticed “how” you do that? Have you ever noticed that you are likely taking one hand down before the other and even more likely it’s always the same hand? Even if it’s a split second between the two, there is time between the two. Time that is being spent increasing a pattern in your body rather than freeing and balancing it. Time when you could be strengthening a weak muscle is being spent letting a dominating and out of balance part of you continue to run the show.
So, I ask you this week to slow down to see what is out of balance and to take the time to make a conscious choice that will allow balance, peace and love to come in.
It’s no surprise that with the mantra and journal offerings I am asking you to do the same. Watch yourself and see the places that trigger you into a base and more primal part of yourself and try to break the cycle. Wake up from the knee-jerk and cultivate a life that reflects your highest ability and highest Self!
With Great Respect and Love,
Nicole
*For those of you who are new to the practice with me “Sadhaka” is a beautiful Sanskrit word to reference a person who is on a prescribed path towards a higher goal- and that my friend is now you! Welcome to a conscious way of moving through your life that will give you tools to change patterns that are no longer serving you and that are keeping you from feeling joy.
