Often, time as is seen as an enemy that wears us down, but when we stay, when we sit still long enough to receive it, time can give us boundless gifts.
Time always lets us know that if we take on too much with our bodies and/or our minds we eventually show it with physical, mental or emotional conditions arising.
For example, my October was so full of necessities to bring the new office to life that I kept pushing my wellness aside I could feel this happening and chose to ignore them. I kept going at that too high of a speed regardless of my orange warning flags waving as time ticked on. Sound familiar? Needless to say I did get sick at the worst time, and ended up physically and mentally drained. Then the body said “you shall rest!”, as a head cold set in forcing me off the grid for some time. It’s as if life forces us slow down when we keep pushing through these stress boundaries. It shows up as illness or other health conditions if we don’t notice or stop to reset.
Taking breaks and taking wellness on as a part of preventative healthcare are not only good practices, but ones that directly influence our quality of life. It’s a tricky balance as we still want to participate in life, enjoying it to it’s fullest, not letting down family or friends and not missing out on anything. Ultimately we must take care of ourselves first, or all those things come crashing down anyway. Don’t let the western model of success fool you, your health is all you have (and know that by health I do NOT mean fitness). If we all took time to address that self care component could you imagine what the world would be like?
“Some people went around interviewing dying patients, and not one person said they regretted not making more money, or working harder. They all seemed to say their regrets were not spending more time with the people they love and not traveling more and relating more to the world and the planet…”
-“Ta Moko” by 1 Giant Leap
Experiment:
Just the act of checking in with your Self with a pause amidst the chaos can be so helpful. I have an experiment we can all try:
1. Pick up your phone if it’s not in hand already
2. Go to the reminders or alerts section and create one for yourself to repeat everyday at a time when you know you will generally be able to look at the phone when it goes off (in settings you can change your sounds to pick a sound you like, in my iPhone I chose “Ripples”)
3. Create the alert to read “Pause and Reflect for one minute”
4. When it goes off daily stop what you are doing and come to the moment. Check in with your Self and reflect on your current state. A friend of mine says “Give your thoughts back to the universe for just a moment” so you can tune in.
*Alternately, if you are taking a tech break you could easily do this with putting a post it “note to Self” somewhere you will see it each day (your door, your steering wheel, etc.). All it needs to have written are the words “Pause and Reflect”. Do the check in when you see the note.
Small things have big results, and you may be astonished how much this practice can shift your life.
That’s it! I really would love to hear back from you in the comments if you tried this and what your experience was like. Also report back if it fueled any wellness or self care practices! This experiment is partially inspired by the film “Walk With Me”, and learning about the Buddhist temple bells. Did you know they invite the bells to ring every 15 minutes as a way of reconnecting in mindfullness with the present? Wisdom in action for sure!
Something that came to me while teaching slow yin yoga last week. As I was sharing with the student that with yin yoga we really slow down in passive poses to let time and gravity feed the body’s unwinding of tension it struck me then that we usually think of time as an enemy that wears us down, but in cases where we stay, where we sit still long enough to receive, time can give us boundless gifts. We just need to learn how to receive it – often through the simple act of staying. Yin yoga and any style of yoga where you stay and receive the pose are ways to work with the hidden nurturing aspect of time, to create wellness and openness in both body and mind. Click here to read a full article about the why and how of yin yoga, by teacher Paul Grilley.
If you’d like to explore ways to make friends with time through yoga and other wellness practices in Rochester NY click here.
© 2024 Julie Finer, LMT, RYT