Opening up to a deeper understanding of your body.

Open to Love

Today, the entire world is still experiencing life during a pandemic. Coming together and opening ourselves up to love is more important than ever.

Good morning and welcome, thank you for joining me. My name’s Mae and today we are opening up to a deeper understanding of our bodies with Heart Openers part seven of eight of our journey through yoga.

You may have noticed that I went a little MIA on the 27th and I don’t have an excuse for you. While my anxiety, work, and life may get in the way, this is my business and if I don’t show up for you, my customers, the truth is, nobody is going to get me in trouble. I’m not going to lose my job, I’m just going to have to accept the loss of trust with my students when I fail to show up.

A little tough love can go a long way when we are being honest with ourselves. I didn’t show up for you because I didn’t schedule my week with the amount of mindfulness that I should have. So thank you for showing up this week and giving me another chance.

Keeping our hearts open takes a lot of forgiveness. It means accepting what is happening around us without letting the negativity dampen our spirits. How have you felt recently? What emotions have you experienced. What do our hearts need?

Closed Off

The problem might not be the external world but perhaps our own internal one. Whatever childhood trauma we have in the back of our subconscious minds, whatever anger or resentment we feel towards people who may have hurt us may have created a wall between us and the ones we care about. It’s a lot of unlearning, but the time we spend working on healing is imperative to our success on the spiritual journey we share with one another.

The next time you are thinking a negative thought like, “What if they don’t like me?” I invite you to change that into, “What if they love me and we get along really well?”

The next time you are thinking, “What if I don’t get the job…” I invite you to change that into the most positive situation possible like, “What if I do get the job and they pay me more than I am asking for!”

The next time you are looking at yourself in the mirror and you think, “I wish I didn’t look like this,” I invited you to celebrate how far your body has taken you from birth to this moment, you have been fighting! You deserve a high five! Smack that mirror, up high!

When we don’t make enough time to analyze our inner dialogue, it will run us over. When we don’t slow down and focus on the things that spark joy in our hearts, we close ourselves off to the joy around us. We need to be happy alone in order to open up our hearts to happiness in our social lives. We need to be happy with who we are so that when we are alone with our thoughts, they do not bring us down but give us a break from the judgement of others.

The Key to Unlocking Love

Opening up to love and joy means making a decided effort to check in with our wants and needs. The drama will always be there. We have to give ourselves a break from it by changing our perspective when we start to feel bogged down.

How can we be happy, open, honest people if we don’t make time to sit still and quiet our thoughts? We can’t. It’s that simple. The people who are the worst off are the people who are completely disconnected from their bodies. When we don’t understand what our system needs, we are living in the past or the future. By checking in with ourselves, we live in the present.

That’s why it’s so important to practice yoga. Take five minutes a day to simply focus on your breathing. If you don’t have five minutes, just take one breath each morning before the day gets away from you to simply enjoy the air you’re breathing. Focus your mind on the most important thing, your breath. Inhale. Exhale. You are at peace and you are open to new and exciting possibilities.

In order to stay open to splendor, we have to tap into the divine energy that lives inside of all of us. When you’re stressed or anxious, your body will respond accordingly. Your shoulders tense, jaws, clench, and browns furrow. We lose sight of love when we lose sight of our connection to Spirit. Pray in darkness. Change this mantra:

“I seek love for my body.

I send love to the world.”

The subtle joy that curls your lips up towards your eyes after prayer or meditation is a gift that you can share with everyone you meet.

It’s all Connected

Everything matters. The way we talk to ourselves, the way we talk to each other, has a vibration that can be felt on a physical level by anyone in the room. Some scientists say that vocal vibrations can even be felt from light years away and change the energy across the universe. This means that not only do people see your light, they also feel it. So shine bright!

If you can set the tone in the morning by creating a safe space for you to wiggle around and find the stillness again before going off on errands for your kids or getting yourself a coffee at Pax before work, you will change the energy for the rest of the day in the most positive way.

We open our hearts by listening to the sound of silence. There is so much noise in our daily life coming at us from more directions that we can count and it makes it really hard for us to stay open and sensitive but I promise you it is worth it to soften your tone and change the way you respond to negative blows.

Moving through the Door

So often, we are just going through the motions instead of tasting every bite and experiencing every breath that we take. How can we expect to open our hearts up if we don’t recharge our batteries with the things that feel good to us?

What activities can you think of that give you energy, that make your spirits soar?

Is there someone you love whose voice immediately calms your soul?

Where do you go to replenish your spirit? Is there a cozy place that you slip into at the end of the day? Is there a nook or corner where you can find peace to pray or meditate alone?

The next time you have a minute to pause, hold. Feel. Breathe.

Exhale out all the heaviness so that you can move outside of your pain and experience the calm emotions that the breath provides.

On the Other Side

It kind of freaks me out how fast paced our lives are today. Everyday we get totally wrapped up in our social media accounts and there never seems to be an end to the streams coming at us, no break from the comparison game when we don’t make time for ourselves to put the phone down.

What do we have to lose from letting go of that which drains our energy?

Nothing.

What do we have to lose from letting go of our self care routines?

Everything!

The people I've known who are the most unhappy are the people who just sit on the couch and watch TV during their free time. There’s not real connection there at all. There’s a huge lack of attention to the needs of the human body. You can’t be open to happiness if you’re not willing to give your body the proper care it deserves. We need silence. Our brains literally cannot function with constant noise. It’s not healthy.

By investing in ourselves, we connect to the deepest truth: LOVE. And that is where God exists. How can we know God if we don’t know our toes?

Announcements:

February is the month of LOVE! For the entire month at The Yoga Space, if you bring a new friend, their cover charge is only $5!

Sara’s Tuesday night class is the perfect space for you to continue your yoga practice and introduce your friends to the union of mind, body, and soul.

Yoga Space is also excited to be offering Monday morning classes at 9am with new instructor Kelly.

I went to her class last week and she had me forget about all of my worries. Not only is her class relaxing, it also gives your body the workout it needs to get moving for the rest of the week. Start your Monday right at 9am with Kelly if it’s convenient.

The fun continues over at Humbling Bloom who is introducing a new event Thursday night at 7pm. Try their relaxing hammock sound bath meditation led by instructor Christina. Dress warm and get ready for a deep dive into your subconscious mind!

Couples Aerial Yoga will be happening so bring your sweetheart or gal pal to:

2/12 at 6pm - Teamwork Aerial Workshop

2/13 at 7pm - Couples Painting Class

2/14 at 4pm - Couples Aerial Workshop

I’ll see you at The Yoga Space Thursday nights at 6pm and Sunday mornings at 10am per usual this month! You can catch my Saturday class on Feb 20th if you’re a weekend warrior, maybe come that next Sunday as well!

I look forward to seeing you, thank you for joining me here today at KerrvilleYoga.com!

Namaste

Mae <3