inspiration – Page 5 – Generous Wisdom

What’s your Word?

Hello, Friends,

What’s your word?

I’ve had people text me this question recently, and have also encountered it in my coursework lately. For the last several years I’ve been using a guiding word like a north star but had completely forgotten about it this turn of the calendar. Thankfully, other people in my community have remembered! Typically, I use the first few days or weeks to let the word reveal itself, but I’m already thinking it’s something like Unfolding.

Your One Word

Your one word is what you want to practice for a set period of time. It’s like setting an intention about what you want to bring into being, or manifest through your thoughts, speech, and actions – how you want to show up in the world. Your one word is like a deep distillation of your heart’s desire, the diamond sparkling at your core.

Your word might reveal layers of your hopes and aspirations, what you hold dear. It can be anything that feels uplifting, encouraging, or inspiring. Last year my word was Ease, which wasn’t easy, but then a curious thing happened. “Allow” cuddled up right next to Ease, and I realized a certain amount of allowing was asking to be invited to my party. Ease needed a friend, and Allowing knew it. This speaks to a long held pattern of behavior in which I try to orchestrate, set up, and navigate everything and everyone so that everything and everyone can have the best-possible-experience-ever in any given situation. Well, one can’t experience “Ease” when one is busy doing all of that.

It’s Foundational

Your one word becomes the foundation from which you move.

Without realizing it, I began practicing allowing as a way to practice ease. This “without realize it” thing is key. The reason this can happen is because the one word is a sweet concentrated nectar that saturates other layers of our being. It doesn’t just “stay in your head.” After seeing it posted it on your walls, mirrors, & shelves, and repeating it while you walk, drive, and breathe, pretty soon the word is in your muscles, bones, & blood, similar to praying without ceasing; or really, it’s similar to anything you practice intensely to the point that you no longer need to think about it, like the violin, the sun salutation, shooting a basketball, typing on a keyboard, knitting, etc.

Practicing your one word is like building a new habit, the same way we might employ new behaviors during Lent or Advent. After several months my body-mind was functioning from a foundation of ease. This doesn’t mean I felt stress-free or easeful all the time (or any of the time). It means that because I wanted to feel ease in my life, I made decisions that would help bring this about. I would ask myself, “Will doing this bring about ease? Will I experience ease if I continue to talk about these things or keep quiet about these things?” Or “Is thinking these thoughts creating ease or blocking it?”

I didn’t need to make a conscious decision to practice “letting go of control.” Instead, my body-mind began incorporating the practice of allowing things to be as they are because I was basing all my decisions on a bedrock of ease. My being knew from experience that this had a way of bringing about the opposite of constriction, grasping, striving — you know, Eeeaaase. So while I wasn’t trying to exact control over every single external circumstance that made up the situations of my life, I was more in control of how I experienced my life, how I actually lived it.

Variation

Maybe your word is an image. I happen to be word-oriented, but maybe you are super visual. What kind of image would you use as your guiding light through this next day, week, or series of months? Take some time to imagine, visualize, draw, or sketch. Or spend some time searching images on the internet, digital museums, or in books. Maybe find a scene on your next walk, run, or hike. Take a pic with your phone or just let it imprint in your mind. It might be something that offers you a sense of uplift, encouragement, inspiration, or awe.

The Wrap Up

My meditation teacher speaks of the ways we might sometimes “origami” ourselves and other people into different packaging so that we, and they, are “more palatable.” I know that I have done this (for a looooong time!) and practicing ease & allowing has made this impulse less intense. It’s no wonder, then, that my new word is revealing itself to be Unfolding even as I write this post!

Some things to try:

Spend time in meditation, contemplation, centering prayer, some combination, or any other inner listening practice, and be open to whatever arises. Spend time walking, running, hiking, or any other meditative movement practice and be open to whatever arises.
When something arises, words, concepts, images, textures, sounds, colors, look beneath them asking what else wants to be seen or heard.
If something strange or unsettling arises, make a choice as to whether you feel resourced enough to engage with that. If so, inquire what might be underneath, what else wants to be seen or heard.
Be open to your unique guiding light or north star. You might have a word, an image, or even an sound.
Take steps to distill, concentrate, and saturate. If you start out with a sentence or series of phrases, distill down to one word. If you start with a series of images, concentrate on one aspect. If you start with a symphony, choose one tone.
Post it everywhere so that you see it. Repeat it constantly so that you can hear it, feel it, and maybe even taste it. Find ways to act it out once each day. Record it and play it back so that you can resonate with it. (Not sure how this works for an image, but maybe it’s a spoken description.)
Have Fun!

Unfolding, for me, feels like allowing space for people to stretch out, and maybe even blossom. This is true for myself, as well. Unfolding might feel uncomfortable. It’ll take time to allow the creases to smooth out. I might need to bend the other way for a little counter-balance. But that’s okay. I’ve got resources to lean on and dip into (yoga, family, God). Plus, the days keep coming, whether we like it or not, so there’s always more time for practice.

Wishing you many amazing, crazy blessings right now and then also the next right now,

Amy

The Universal Yogi

PS. Feel free to get in touch and share your word, image, or sound. It’s fun to share! Email amy@thecatholicyogi.com.

Honoring & Releasing

Hello, Yoga Friends, Happy today!

Here’s an offering of practices for you.

This class is Yoga for Body-Mind & Heart: Practices for Honoring & Releasing. It was inspired by my teacher, and begins with seated centering, followed by a meditation of honoring and releasing. And then gentle moving, stretching, and opening the front body using the floor as a yoga prop.

Gather some pillows, blankets, or towels and a yoga strap or scarf. These items are not necessary but might make things feel more supportive.

To the casual observers, it might look like we’re just rolling around on the ground, but we’ll know the good playwork taking place. Expect opportunities to stretch the shoulders, chest, hips, abdomen, back, & sides. When you feel like something’s missing. Just add it in!

May you be covered in the blessings you most need right now,

Amy

The Universal Yogi

There’s a Transformation Happening. (Not Just Right Now. Always.)

An Announcement

There’s a transformation happening over here. It was in the works long before this moment (as transformations always are), and I know the pandemic has hastened its arrival. I’m thankful for this. This strange year gave me time. To sit, to feel, to wait, to think; to let go, hold on, cry, decide.

That long pause in the writing was reasonable; the tentative and shaky entrance into Advent, appropriate. Signing my recent posts with “The Universal Yogi,” necessary.

A few months ago I asked a friend and fellow seeker if she’d consider taking over The Catholic Yogi. It was the only way forward I could see, and I could not think of a better person to steward the mission of this online space. She said Yes. With enthusiasm! A few weeks later I texted another friend to share this life-changing news, the only person outside of my immediate family to know, and her response totally surprised me. She said she thought it was amazing that I was taking this “step towards healing.” This was crazy to me – I had no idea I was in need of healing until she said it.

There will be much more to come regarding the transition, which won’t be complete until July or August, 2021. In the meantime, Incarnation!

Being in a Body

The Christian feast of Christmas is a celebration of the birth of divinity in a human body. I love this. What a sweet joy to know our sacredness in this way. I am divine because Jesus Christ is, and so are you. And so is every last one of us. The problem is that I forget this a lot. This is why even though it is always Christmas (God is always coming to us in a body) it’s helpful to celebrate it with intention.

December 25th doesn’t matter, of course. We can intentionally celebrate our embodiment any time we want. Every time we dance, bow, run, cook, build, carve, paint, sweep. Every time we perform surgery or a piano solo. Every time we collect the trash, address an envelop, hit send on an email, fill out a form. Every time we bring our attention to the sacredness of our being here, now, as part of the whole environment that surrounds us, it’s a chance to celebrate Christmas.

For Practice

The next time you decide to celebrate the sacredness of your humanity, try any of these suggestions for practicing embodiment:

Stand close to someone side by side and notice the energy of your own body. Then notice the energy of their body. If you like, hover your open hands close to each other without touching. If no energetic sensation is noticeable, each person can rub their own hands together vigorously creating some heat and then experiment again. My kids love this.
Do something that will truly help someone else (cook dinner and drop it off, spend and share time connecting on the phone, through text, zoom, or in person?). Notice how it feels in your body to do all that is involved.
Teach someone else how to do something for themselves (knit, bake, start the laundry, write a poem, practice yoga?). Notice how your body feels when teaching, listening, and learning.
Rest quietly and feel your breath coming in and going out. Let your hands rest on your body where the movement of your breath is the most obvious.
Think of something you do and then do it as a celebration of embodiment(!)

Practicing embodiment can feel like a transformation, like an “Oh! This is what it feels like to be alive. But transformation is a tricky word. Sometimes I think I actually mean an uncovering of what was always there, of what was becoming, what was waiting to be born, waiting to crack through the shell or to split open the chrysalis.

Wishing you many moments, happy or something else, of noticing that you are alive, being in a body. And not just today, but all the days. There’s a way of thinking of God as the Eternal Now, or, one of my absolute favorites, The Everlasting Instant. Implicit in these names is the concept of always. They scoop up every moment that ever was and every moment that ever will be and places them here, now.

Keep transforming,
Keep uncovering,
incarnating,
embodying,
celebrating,

Amy

The Universal Yogi

For further reading, visit the Center for Christogenesis and the article by Diarmuid O’Murchu, Incarnation as Embodiment of Spirit.