Moving against the tide
Annoyed. Bothered. Quite honestly on the edge of absolute pissiness.
What brings me to these feelings of negativity, you ask? Oh yogini of gratitude?
Need I say more?
Daylight savings time.
I’ve been dreading it for weeks. Compiling this momentum of passionate frustration into imaginary letters to my government officials. Knowing that it was going to come, and at least for this time around, that I wasn’t going to be able to do a damn thing about it.
Last night I agreed to fill in a last minute class this morning. I agreed, forgetting that I’d be waking up an hour earlier, before the sun had even made his appearance. I wasn’t upset so much about the loss of that hour of sleep, I was upset that it was so unnecessary. I was upset because once again, some other force, that of the material, not natural world, is trying to undermine the beautiful and rhythmic flow of Mother Nature.
Why?! So we’ll have longer daylight hours. Well here’s the thing. We do not have more daylight. Just because you “take a foot off the top of the blanket and sew it to the bottom, doesn’t mean you have a longer blanket”. Just because you change our clocks, hoping that we’ll use that extra hour to go spend our money on unnecessary frivolities, or you think you’re “conserving” energy by allowing us to think it’s 8:00 when in fact it’s 7. Maybe we won’t turn on our lights until later? No. But we’ll leave them on just as long as we did before. Because our bodies are trying to listen to the cycles of the earth- not your damn regulatory control on our pocketbooks.
And thank you for taking away my precious morning sunrise, as I send my daughter off to school just past the break of dawn…
Stop.
Breathe.
When I got to the studio this morning I carried with me my frustration. Before my students arrived, I sat on my mat and took in my breath deep from my belly. I filled my heart with that breath and used it to relax my shoulders. I felt the sensations in my body and mind. I watched the motions of my thoughts as they bickered back and forth, between steadiness and chaos and allowed this all to happen without judgment. When my students arrived, they too were experiencing frustration, so we let ourselves express our feelings- and as a group agreed to allow our practice to melt away that tension and lift us up above and beyond the constraints of time.
By the end of class, we all felt much lighter.
So yes, my breath and my practice helped me move through the matter with more grace, but I am still frustrated with the system itself.
I understand that because I live and function in society, I have to follow the rules. I have to get my daughter to school on time, show up for work, and make my scheduled appointments. In order to do this, I need to let go and flow. While some people will feel like they’ve gained something by setting their clocks ahead, I feel like I’ve lost something…
And while some people might feel that I am overreacting or expressing too much rage on the subject, oh yogini of gratitude, I feel like I’m honoring my path and living my yoga. To hold back emotion, when it is not necessarily harmful to others, is to suppress the self. I am breathing. I am carrying on.
Kripalu yoga teaches brilliantly: Breathe, Relax, Feel, Watch, Allow.
Tags: colorado springs yoga, gratitude yoga, holistic living, One Rhythm Yoga, vinyasa yoga, vinyasa yoga colorado springs, yoga classes
March 15th, 2010 at 4:01 am
America is nutty.
March 15th, 2010 at 6:44 am
Girl, don’t get me started…
April 23rd, 2010 at 9:40 am
I was an hour late for my one-2-one yoga practise with my own teacher and I felt really bad about it. It is so unlike me, but it completely slipped my mind.
It took my daughter about two weeks to get into the new rhythm for bedtime and it was a bit of a nightmare :-(.
‘…To hold back emotion, when it is not necessarily harmful to others, is to suppress the self. I am breathing. I am carrying on…’ I am glad to read this because I wondered for some time that I have chosen the wrong path but soon came to the conclusion that I am “just” human. We all have our ups and downs when we feel happy, sad, angry … and just because we practise yoga does not mean we should be emotionless. Love and light all the time just does not work for me. I have my bad moments/ days, but just need to learn to deal with my emotions in a reasonable manner. If that mean love and light has just left the building, so be it ;-).
April 26th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
It’s fun to go back and forth with you on two different blogs. I love that we have so much in common.
I think it’s about really knowing how to live in the emotions. How to watch them and allow them to ebb and flow. We have to experience. I think sometimes (and this could just be me) that practicing yoga actually allows you to experience your emotions at a deeper level. So when I feel like I’m being cranky or down, I can figure out why. And if I deem that my emotions are real, and I’m not just acting like a spoiled brat, well then, I fully embrace them and go for it 
I hope that one day this whole daylight savings time gets dismantled. I’m so over it.
I think for most of us out there, it is normal to go between feeling confident and confused on our chosen path. For me, (and perhaps it is my gemini nature), I have issues with just deciding on a single path.
I am definitely not love and light all of the time. I would probably get on my own nerves if I was
April 27th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Yes, we do seem to have things in common. Last night when working on … I was even wondering if you are walking the Red Moon Mystery path. It just hit me after one of your entries you wrote that it sounds like you are trying to cover the same homework as I do right now. This is where I am trying to bring the yoga path and female spirituality together and focus rather than jumping from path to path again. Hence why I am trying to bring my pagan and yoga blog together now rather than separating them splitting my focus again.
May 6th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Blissings, M.
I am not familiar with the Red Moon Mystery path. I think we must just stem from a similar seed
After a bit of googling, I wonder, is it connected to Red Moon Musings in any way?
I don’t necessarily adhere to any particular path, I dance to my own drummer so to speak. I am not opposed, I just haven’t found a particular path that allows me the freedom I need to explore and discover what works for me and what doesn’t. My own brand of spirit and magic does me just fine, though at times I do crave more structure. I may look into this Mystery Path though… are you free to share more on the subject? I understand if you’re not. No worries.
I respect you immensely for working to combine your pagan and yoga blogs. I’m not there yet. Mostly because One Rhythm Yoga is my business. And though my students recognize my Spirit once they get to know me, I must keep the blog somewhat neutral in order to not turn anyone off… do you think this is not practicing my truth? Oh how I struggle with it sometimes.