What does it mean to “practice?”
Why is yoga and Pilates called a “practice?”
From my understanding, it’s because it takes commitment and willingness to build a skill set that might not be familiar yet. We practice things we want to become proficient in. And in calling something a “practice” it can remove the pressure of needing to be perfect. It brings a curiosity back to the unfamiliar and perhaps teaches us to be more present in the moment.
If I asked you who you are, what would your answer be?
I’ve become less interested in the identity you’ve created – the ego justifying itself – and getting to know the source of who you are. I want to know the authentic YOU. The most real, messiest, human parts of you. It’s the feelings and emotions we all experience, yet hide from each other out of fear of judgement or rejection. When we see others as they are, we also allow ourselves to be seen.
Whether it all matters or none of it matters, the solution is the same. Be here. Be present. Let go of fear and be in every experience – good or bad. If life is a gift, don’t keep the receipts.
The funnel of life points us toward this narrow concept of what our life “should” be. There’s milestones we are supposed to meet by a certain age – first steps, first words, first day of school, last day of school, becoming legal, get a qualification, go into debt, get a job, buy a house, get married, have kids, travel, retire, die. That’s the funnel we are told is our life. Except we get to a point when we realise it’s not what we were told it was. Life isn’t meant to be taken so seriously or followed like a rule book. The universe doesn’t take itself so seriously, so why do we?
When we stop for a moment and realise that how we view someone else is simply through the lease of our own perspective, we can remove judgement. We haven’t lived their life and aren’t involved in their karma. In this recognition, we can see another human being having their own experience. There’s a shift in trying to impose your thoughts, your needs and your presumptions onto them, to just seeing the person as they are. What do they need in that moment that you can offer? If the smallest act of kindness or compassion can ease the suffering of one human being, then in theory, if we all could shift our thinking just a fraction toward this, we’d lift the vibration of the entire world.
Unconditional love is the most powerful way of being, yet we all have been guilty of closing our hearts when a person we deeply care about doesn’t act in a certain way. If they don’t do or say the things that ME feel the way I want, then I will build a wall in front of my heart. Unconditional love is a state of being, where we can see the person beyond the words and behaviour. It doesn’t mean we always condone them, but we can let go of our need to control how another person IS and find grace to let them be.
Have you ever asked yourself this question?
Who am I?
If you’re not who you think you are…
Because you are not your thoughts…
And you’re not your identity
Because identity is created by thoughts
Then who are you?
