Can you too feel your nails scraping as you try for dear life to hold on to ‘that holiday feeling’? The days slip past and the feeling fades with your tan. Your sensory memory of that relaxed feeling fades with the shine in your eyes and people stop commenting on your post-holiday glow.
We enjoyed Christmas in an enormous house in a compound near Byron Bay which coped with ease with my extended family. I kept losing which wing my bedroom was in, and it was novel hearing the far away cries of ‘mummy’ echoing faintly through the corridors. It took me two days to find the laundry (seriously, I had to ask my husband where it was) and when I did I found it was larger than my home kitchen. In this unexplored land of built in storage heaven there was no need for the Ikea 4 x 2 cubes which help my family manage.
So it was hard for me to return to my generous Sydney sized kitchen with what I previously felt had plenty of space and enough storage. For a full week my beloved home felt pokey, our double sized bedrooms felt tiny, my rooms and psyche both felt cluttered and I felt low.
How do we cope?
Yoga teaches us the very important precept of Non Grasping –Aparigraha. Modern day mums can take this Sanskrit word as a teaching of Queen Elsa from Frozen –Let it Go.
Aparigraha is also translated as non-hoarding or non-collecting (I cringe at our house full of toy clutter and my hypocritical wardrobes – yes, wardrobes, plural – bursting at the sides)
The concept of Aparigraha has another facet to it – trusting. It’s about practicing letting go with the trust that our needs will be met. We need to practice being confident in letting go of that which no longer serves us with grace, and trust that we will receive what we need as we need it. Does that scare you as much as it scares me sometimes?
Here’s a nice quote by Mr BKS Iyengar, the man credited with bringing yoga to the West in the 60’s. “By the observance of aparigraha, the yogi makes his life as simple as possible and trains his mind not to feel the loss or the lack of anything. Then everything he really needs will come to him by itself at the proper time.”
I love working with the breath and regular students will have practiced lengthening out the exhalations in class. It can be confronting to exhale completely, and allow yourself to empty out for those moments. But each time you sit in that friendly dark space, you are affirming your trust that on the other side of the breath, there is a whole ocean of air just waiting to enter your lungs and fill you with beautiful life affirming prana.
As I sometimes remind my yoga students, it takes a lot of courage to really truly relax, because you have to let go to relax. We are used to clinging on to our tensions as that’s how we recognise ourselves. Without them we have whole new possibilities. I find this quote by Picasso particularly inspiring “Art is the elimination of the unnecessary”
So letting ourselves exist in empty space can feel strange and a bit scary, but it opens us up to a huge amount of potential. Creative energy is released and we can feel a whole new sense of power. Do you remember that fantastic uplift of energy the last time you had a proper clean out? And even as you live in your post-holiday reality, remember too that every moment is precious. Yes, even this one as you read me on your iPhone while watching the kids swim.
Blessing for the New Year everyone. If you feel moved to, have a little declutter of sorts (a physical, mental, emotional detox). Trust you are safe to simplify and let go, and read on for loads of new classes in several different time slots, all which will help you enjoy your present moment experience, and check out our great deal of 2 weeks free classes…..
See you soon!
-Christina
PS Sorry all parents if you are still humming that ear worm of a song.