| Are you a resolution maker? A “resolutionist?”A friend of mine goes to the gym every morning. Yes, every morning. He gets up and goes. My husband swims every day. Both of these men report that in the first week of January the gym and pool are filled with resolutionists who resolve that this year they will work out, swim, eat better, or lose weight. Yoga studios fill with students. By the end of the January, or maybe in February, the gyms, pools, and studios have slowly emptied except for a few new regulars and the old regulars returning to their routines. What’s the deal? Here we are in 2023. Each year that number changes and I do, too. I hardly remember any resolutions I made because I seldom made any. Did you? Do you? I polled some friends about resolutions. Here are a few answers: I don’t make resolutions any more. I’ve never lost those 20 pounds.I resolve every year to be kinder to my family.I sign up for a different new class every year. Sometimes I never go, but I love the process of looking. The New Year marks a place, a specific date that many of us recognize as a new beginning. For me it’s a bit like my birthday as a marker of time, a reflection of the past, and a glimpse into the possible future. In the reflection process, I consciously review the past in order to learn from it. Several years ago I started coming up with a phrase or word that I would carry around with me as a reminder of new or different habits or patterns I wanted to put into place. One year the word was “equanimity.” Another phrase I used was “I don’t know.” Those still come in handy. I learned a new technique for that intention at a New Year’s meditation retreat at  Jekyll Island, GA, with Cheri Flake, The Stress Therapist. We enjoyed several days of yoga and meditation before New Year’s Eve when we retreatants gathered in an outdoor pavilion near the beach. Cheri led us through some visualizations and meditations to guide us into 2023. In the first one, she passed around some rocks and asked us to hold one. Through kind words, she guided us to put whatever we wanted to leave behind in 2022, what we were finished with, into the rock. I found some events/memories/ideas that I felt I could leave behind. They had served their purpose like an old shirt. I infused them solidly into the rock. As a group, we walked silently in single-file to the beach where we tossed or heaved our rocks into Mother Ocean. Ahhh. Lighter already. The next morning, New Year’s Day, we collected ourselves on the beach. After a short meditation, our intrepid leader encouraged us to consider how we would like to feel by the end of 2023. How did we want to feel? To me, that includes all of me—the physical body, emotional heart, intellectual mind/brain, and intuitive center of the belly. Then…this is the best part… Cheri asked us to stand up and feel all of that, and then to take the stance that represented that particular attitude. We could chose something like “I want to feel like a rock star” and walk in the manner of a rock star. Wow. We all assumed our postures of CEOs, acrobats, freedom fighters, firm decision makers, or soft bunnies, and scattered across the beach. I started grinning as I imagined what we looked like as we sauntered, sashayed, strode, and strutted across the beach. That experience was much more fun than making a resolution. I did come up with a word. I’m not telling what word I chose. You’ll probably see it in my walk by the end of the year. May you let go of what doesn’t serve you. May you embrace what does. Together, may we move into 2023 with love and compassion for all. Namaste, Cindy   It’s Mexico Time!!!  Cindy and her husband Randy are headed to Mexico for their annual February vacation. There will be no classes from January 30 through February 24. Classes will resume on Monday, February 27. |
Iyengar Instruction for Every Body