The 3 Qualities of the Right Attitude

What mind am I feeding today? Is my mind in the past or linking to the future? Can I just sit in the present moment of what is being presented NOW? Answering these questions is my daily commitment to living in the fullness of each day.

Spring is a reminder that an entire year has been lived with the effects of COVID. Who could have predicted our losses? And yet, who could have imagined all the ways we rose to the occasion of living with this phenomenon of uncertainty. It has been exhausting yet profoundly rewarding when I hold the entire year as one of growing, expanding, and opening of my heart. It has humbled me and at times asked me to surrender all of my expectations and accept the offerings that change presented.

Zoom is not my desired vehicle for the journey, but it allows us to stay connected as a community and to offer these teachings in a time when they are so needed. I cultivated and nourished the entire year with three important qualities which became a daily practice.

First, to meet myself with tenderness and gentleness, I had to unlearn and let go of habits that were familiar and loved. I had to change our entire system to use more technology. I had to teach and share through the computer which at times made me feel less than adequate.

We are yoga teachers, sharing the wisdom of insight, and meeting students individually with a profound shift in the nervous systems with careful observations of our students. Many times we felt like we were simply calling out instructions found in a manual. Often we felt as if no one was even there listening or fully engaging.

Teachers of any medium felt the immense loss. The pure joy of establishing the connection between students and teachers, which offers profound nourishment for both, was a constant struggle to inspire without the actual live presence.

Patience became the second important attitude for my daily practice. Patience is another name for trust. I had to remind myself that to rush or avoid the fullness of this frustration was only feeding impatience for what might be presenting itself as a learning lesson in acceptance. I could not rush reopening the studio, nor be impatient in wanting it to be different. Whether it’s unpleasant or pleasant, the daily commitment is to be open to letting in the new and releasing the old patterns that no longer serve.

Today, we have a stronger community based in gentleness for each other. My compassion for myself allows me to feel more compassion for the community as a whole. This has brought us closer as we share the journey together. Thank you for being willing to show up and stay the course as we stumble and awkwardly learn new ways to communicate in these classes and feel connected.

This brings me to the most important attitude that I had to really appreciate as my heart was breaking open. That is cultivating more humor. To lighten up and observe myself as my own living “sit-com” versus a Lifetime channel drama. Each day, while talking to the plants in an empty studio, I catch myself in a moment of the absurdity of it all. The pain and grief of what we all mourn became an instant moment of not taking myself so seriously.

That “it” is not about me at all. To teach and share and practice for those that cannot became my true mission statement.

With that ease of being present, I could witness my fears and doubts without judgment sneaking into my thoughts. And the great mistakes were just another opportunity for the “Grand Experiment” of living fully. I found myself laughing through the tears. Yes, this was the year of great emotional release.

Easing the heart of tensions and bringing in the nourishment of Prana is linked to these three qualities of the right attitude. I can practice where to place my roaming thoughts. I have a choice in discerning where I place my attention. I have the ability to choose because I CAN. This is yoga and bringing my mind home is the ability to ease the suffering that this year has brought.

I choose to welcome Spring with renewed hope for what is coming: that more students will find the desire and feel safe to return to the studio; that laughter and hugs will fill our days; and that we can remember to feel the blessings as we meet each day in loving gentle patience. 

Looking back over the past year, what take aways have influenced your positive attitude? How has yoga helped?Please share in the comments below.

The light in me honors the light in you—

Laura Jane

Awakening to Beauty.

What a lovely blanket of white that covers the earth today. It’s Mother Nature's sweet reminder to go inward and cultivate a living experience of being present. Slow down, take in deep breaths and relax into the beauty of living fully in the moment. The mind’s habits of roaming outward feed the constant seeking and pushing to do more.

This lovely quiet and peaceful snow is reminding me to enjoy the tranquility of slowing down. Please connect to the breath and use this day and an opportunity to come inward.

The concept of compassion is a moral guiding principle. To cultivate an awareness of self compassion takes the willingness to stop always going outward and practice bringing the attention of mind inward. This inner purpose needs nourishment, and as a yoga community, we must awaken this essential part in all of us—our collective heart.

There is so much fear and agitation being fed in our media today. We’ve become enslaved to our emotions and over think every aspect of our lives. It is too exhausting for our nervous systems. Our well-being is challenged to stay balanced.

Today, take the opportunity to experience an inhale breath. Take a breath in the sweetness of this brilliant snow covering the earth. The roots of every tree are being nourished just as your own systems are experiencing a flow of pranic sensitivity with the flow of breath. Feel the body soften and relax on each long smooth exhale.

This awareness to the seamless flow of breath is bringing in vitality and energy as pure sensation. Just sit with the flow of awarenesses coming on the inhale and moving through on the exhale. Each breath bringing you deeper into a pure awareness of inner awakening.

This is a conscious connection with the universal intelligence. Feel the support of grace unfolding and be in gratitude for the wonders and awe of your magnificent life.

Our collective intention of sharing our ease into the world will help heal humanities suffering. This is a collective practice for the world sharing our interdependence as a loving community of compassionate. Be well, be joyous and go out then and play in this glorious snow!!

Blessings and light,

Laura Jane

Letting Go of Resistance Opens the Doorway into 2021

The year 2020 has come to an end, and we welcome a new spin around the sun. The year was far from what I ever could have imagined, and I struggled with acceptance. I was not mentally or emotionally willing for many of the challenges that were presented.

However, today I am entering this new year with a blank canvas for that which is yet to be revealed. I am accepting the miracle of new beginnings. I am committed to cultivating the word, acceptance.

I might not be able to change the outer circumstances, but I can fully respond with the acceptance of the now. For now, this situation, this moment requires me to live fully in allowing a shift in my consciousness.

It has been a complete year of letting go and offering the situation to arise with my full participation in seeing the good in each moment. I might not like it. I might find it unpleasant; and yet, I have the freedom to choose my acceptance of it.

I find immediately this shifts the flow of my energy and the performing of any task with a lessening of resistance. It allows for a full expansive feeling of peacefulness in the action. This quality of peacefulness is a subtle energy vibration that then flows throughout my state of mind. This flow of peaceful energy is my consciousness.

I am choosing to be content with what is happening versus being caught in my habit of reacting to what I find uncertain or unfamiliar. When my mind links to this state of mind, I am only in fear. Hence my tensions on a physical, mental, and emotional body/mind only increase. And this has been the main cause of exhaustion or mental despair. The year 2020 has brought us the opportunity to start shifting inward.

It became very clear that 2020 is asking us to change; and acceptance of that change can be difficult, messy, and uncomfortable. A huge part of change is in releasing the grip on what we know for the possibility of a new creative vision. True transformation happens when we completely surrender our attachments to the old and welcome what is not yet visible. We must be able to rest in the open space of uncertainty.

This messy transition was happening around me on every level. In my personal life, in my professional life, and in my inner spiritual life. The awakening was slow to be fully embraced, and it has been an ongoing practice throughout the ride of the past year.

“True transformation happens when we completely surrender our attachments to the old and welcome what is not yet visible. We must be able to rest in the open space of uncertainty.”

Last year YAF became an on-line studio. I am not sure how my brilliant web-person, Therese, navigated us forward. I am forever grateful for her endless dedication and hours of support as we kept the studio connected to the community.

Our teachers’ willingness to jump into the deep end of the pool and swim those uncharted waters was beyond the grace of 2020. Their commitment and love of their students was greater than the fear of teaching remotely.

“Community” became our mantra and our full intention in accepting the new frontier. We painted, threw out the sweet reminders of the last 23 years, and found a place of tranquility as we zoomed ahead into 2021.

This past year continuously reminded me that I am not in control of the outer world. Three weeks ago a construction company started to use this Covid winter as a time to drain and dredge our sweet pond in the park in which my house faces. Every winter, I get my joy from watching neighborhood kids gather outside and skate. Often at night, under the stars, I can go out and skate in the quiet, alone with my inner thoughts. My ritual of winter as a sanctuary of peace with nature.

The village chose this winter after more than 40 years, to start this nasty and ugly endeavor. At first I was so disappointed that the one year in which I am not traveling anywhere, I am stuck at home to be a witness to the muck.

And then, the moment of awe graced my consciousness. I decided that this was only a metaphor for the great gifts awaiting in 2021. This project was the actually churning up of the mud. The act of bringing the darkness up from the bottom of the water was stirring my own agitations up to the surface of my own conscious awareness.

I could shift my attitude and just accept it. Accept that this project is long overdue, that there is so much clutter in that pond where over the years people threw their old tires, sinks, and general shit. This was the clearing out.

I could accept this as a grace unfolding. Come spring when the trees start their sweet renewal of growth and the light of the sun is shining longer on the water reflection, there will be a beautiful new landscape and I will be the blessed recipient of all this abundant beauty. I can choose today to see the possibility of what is coming.

2021 is here. The days might be dark now and we are all tired. Yet, choosing the now to see what can be is the gift. Let’s welcome in this year not with fatigue and weariness, but with a renewed passion for what living can be.

We can create this year by digging deep into those places of resistance and simply choose to be accepting. Give in to more wonder and awe in living fully in joy and peace. Let us celebrate! Blessings abound in 2021!

Love and light,

Laura Jane