I know for myself, and I’m guessing many of you, there is a fair amount of fear calling out for our attention right now. Whatever the future holds or does not hold for us we can’t know. Most of us are not terribly comfortable within the space of the unknown. We want to be able to prepare (hello, empty grocery store shelves), and be ready for what lies ahead. But if we are focused on preparing ourselves for every possible outcome we can imagine, we are living in a future of our imagination. A story or a dozen stories we’ve spun in our minds, none of which will be reality.
To be honest, life will never return to “normal.” That is a sobering thought, I know. One that I haven’t truly needed to grasp to this level before. Sure, I got some practice when the entire city of Grand Forks, ND flooded in 1997 when I was a Junior at UND. Many of us did the same after 9-11. Neither of those events could truly prepare me for this past week or what is to come in the weeks ahead.
Instead there will be a new normal, but we can’t predict what that new normal will look like or when we will be able to settle into such a state. Maybe that was a part of our problem. Being too comfortable with routine and the illusion of control? Maybe we aren’t to find a new normal outside of chaos and unpredictability.
I don’t have the answer for you or myself. All I have to offer are some tools to help you ground yourself in the present moment -- practices that can help you step out of all the coulda, shoulda, wouldas or pull you back from the what ifs.
A commonly tossed around quote declares love as the opposite of fear. That has been coming to mind frequently over this past week. And I’ve used that to inform my personal practice. Grounding myself in the present by settling into my own heart space. I unfortunately had to give up my classes at PIES Fitness Yoga Studio this past week when my doctor informed me that I am part of the at-risk population. Sharing tools for self-care and self-soothing is my calling and I’m not going to let self-quarantine keep me from my purpose.
So, I’m inviting you to join me tomorrow, Sunday March 22, 2020 at 6:00pm EDT for an IG Live (optimalwellnessyoga) where I will share a short breath-centered meditation practice aligning the head and the heart to help us all take action from a place of love instead of fear.
If you aren’t on Instagram or you've missed the live event, I’ll be posting the replay video to my Facebook page and here on this blog.
I'm also hoping to figure out the filming of yoga in a small apartment so I can live stream my PIES classes soon. That means those of you who have been wanting to take one my classes but don't live in the DC metro can take part from your home!