All we need is... space

Oh boy, it’s been a week… you know the kind?

When you have big plans and then somehow things just do not, and I emphasize, do not, got to plan.

My schedule was full, every day of the week was planned through from morning to night, I was ready to rock this week, dive in,

GET IT DONE…you know what I mean?

I was here for it - full work days, teaching new yoga classes, starting new projects and fully commited to keep up the quality time with loved ones, much needed catch ups, work outs…

I’m sure you’ve had these times in your life where you knew, man, I just gotta pull up my sleeves and get to work.

This was this week for me..

Until it wasn’t.

It started on the Sunday.

I KNOW, whoever is in charge didn’t even let me have the start of the week, how rude.

I woke up with a fever, and after battling with myself for a while, I decided to be an adult and cancel the hike I had planned with two dear friends I hadn’t seen in weeks.

Fine, I would get one day on the couch.

One day.

Surely, that will do the trick and I’ll be as good as new the next morning. Because... my to do list, remember?

So yes, I might be trained in helping strong individuals with overachieving tendencies (sorry, did I call you out?😉) find back into their bodies and live a life that actually feels good, but here’s the thing, I only know how to do that because I struggle with it just the same sometimes...

So you want to know how the rest of my week went?

Spoiler, I was very unimpressed with myself.

At first.

The struggle continued when I realized:

Monday ain’t gonna be the Monday on my calendar.

I go ahead and send the first round of cancellations, because the thermometer didn't agree with me...

Part of me would have rather been stabbed. The other part of me is committed to doing the right thing: listen to my body, do what I would tell LITERALLY EVERYBODY ELSE to do.

Rest.

Trust.

My body knows best, remember?

Yes. So ginger tea it is!!

But two days must do the trick, right?

The internal struggles continue.

I open my laptop on Tuesday.

Cancel another thing on  Wednesday.

Think I am back among the living on Thursday only to drop the ball again (that’s another story).

And then it hit me: My body is trying to tell me something...Mel, you need rest, give it to yourself, damn it.

But instead of listening I was just simply waiting to get better, forcing, stressing over not beeing “healed enough” (now isn’t that the story of our lives…), making more tea, taking, more vitamins - not actually giving myself permission to heal.

Sure, I was doing all the right things but internally I was not relaxing, I was filling my inner world with the message:

GET BETTER NOW, I HAVE THINGS TO DO.

And that looked like lots of fluids and Netflix and felt like shit (pardon my french).

My body was occupied with fighting my attitude, not whatever virus kept me on the couch.

Then another thing hit me:

One, I know better, I have studied this, I teach people this…it’s time to listen.

Two, what I really needed to do is: surrender, let go. Finally trust the thing I cannot see and will never ever be able to control, my body’s wisdom.

So I made peace with it.

It is what it is.

And finally I realized, what I really needed was this:

Space.

I was reminded of one of the basic ayurvedic principles: ether aka, space.

For anything to happen at all, in nature, in our bodies, in life - we need space.

Just like a plant needs room to grow, I needed space to heal.

So often we fill all the space we have with things - podcasts, plans, texts, whatever we can squeeze in to the tiniest gap of time we detect.

What if, and hold on, this is a crazy idea, what if we’d just let the spaces we find…be empty?

No headphones on your walk.

No music while doing the dishes.

No mental to do list while you’re watering plants.

Maybe that means we have to let go of the illusion of productivity in this way.

But maybe it also means that we are giving our bodies the room to be….healthy?

So this week, I invite you to find the spaces in your life, whatever they may look like, no matter how big or small and let them be just that… spaces.

And if you must, fill them with a breath.. 😉

That’s my learning this week, I’m right here with you…

🤍

💌💌💌

Love,

Mel