P.S. Don’t judge my language—
we all speak and express life differently.
Sometimes I process in Spanish, and my translations work for me.

One day I was teaching a class, and we were moving at a healthy pace.
What is a healthy pace? Not fast, not slow, but steady.
Taking in the deep breaths, feeling the everything in everything of the pose—including the mind.
Yes, the mind.

And a student said, “Hurry up.”
My question to her was, “And then what?”

If you know me, I am not shy when it comes to slowing down.
She was fully aware that this was not a confrontation but a moment of awakening.
I kept them in the poses—still at the same pace.
Why was I going to speed things up when yoga is all about slowing down to a pace
where we can actually be in the moment and look deep within... to everything?

What she needed was purely to take the time
to get to know herself a little more.

When I saw her the following week, she said she never felt so much in her mindbody.
Interesting?

Move fast: feel nothing.
Move slow: feel everything.

Why does our culture rush so much?
We all get Savasana at some point.
We are a culture full of rushing around, and really,
at the end of the day—we are depleted of life.

Each day we move at full force.
Each day we cheat ourselves of life.
At what age were you first asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
And how could we possibly know what we want to be if we just arrived?

So, what is a healthy pace for you?
How rushed are you to move through your day?

I was speaking to a friend last night, and I told her—
Don’t people just want to be happy?
She said she thinks people want to not not be happy.

So what fear holds you back?
Do you take actions because you're afraid of outcomes you may not be able to fully control?
Afraid of failing?

Our culture frowns on failure.
In yoga, falling teaches us to learn through practice.
The students that I see who do not close their eyes have such a fear of falling—
of failing.

Too much focus on the external.
Not enough focus on the internal.

I have a very close relative who is trying to make up for their life
because they chose to settle down and have kids.
There is this rush of fear.

Marry.
Have kids.
Work. Work. Work.
Retire.
Catch up.

Hurt the mindbody
(hmmm... interesting that even the spellchecker wants to separate "mindbody"?)
with the rat race.
Hurt the family they chose because they have resentment.
Hurt the world, because they really had so much more to offer.
And then what?

They live in fear because their father passed around the age of 75.
They live, move, act in fear because they think they only have ten years left to live.
They are 65.
And then what?

Too much focus on telling people what you think they want to hear.
Too much focus on not being authentic.

Love yourself.
Your laugh lines, your greying hair color, the change in your eyes.

Love yourself by getting to know yourself.

Can you practice Satya (Truthfulness) and not cheat the world of getting to know you
and all that you offer?

Can you recognize that you are perfect,
because there is no one like you in this world, or ever will be?

Can you recognize that you don’t have “problems,”
but that you are just trying to get by with what you can?

Can you show up for yourself
the way you show up for work
or the doctor’s office?

Can you be?