Hi Loves,
How are you right now? Just take a moment, close your eyes, drop in with yourself. There; I bet you are ok.
Now, watch the mind come in and quickly look for some proof of not "OK" or some validation of the Okayness. If you are not feeling OK, close your eyes, drop in- can you sense underneath the "not OK" there is an okayness? You are still here, still breathing. (I know this has grammatical errors and even a made up word-"okayness", but I am going to trust that it makes sense as you feel it. For example, when I close my eyes and "drop in," I can sense that even if I wasn't here and wasn't breathing that I would still be ok. And when the mind gets excited thinking about how the world would be without me in it, I can still sense okayness there too. Does anyone else feel that?
This is trust. This is trusting this life and it's unfolding. I think trust is what we are being asked to lean into right now, do you feel that too? When we lack trust we are quick to point fingers; finding someone, or something, to blame; that is what the mind does. The mind is doing it's job to try to keep us safe. In our past, safety might have been needed, ("thank you mind."), but today; how often are we not trusting even though there is no foreseen danger(?) When you "lean in" to deep trust- which is rooted in the heart, right behind it you will find immense gratitude. Take a moment to close your eyes and reflect upon a time when you felt deep trust, there was gratitude there, wasn't there?
So I ask you; where in your life are you lacking trust? This question is a beautiful exploration with your own heart. Years ago, I saw quite clearly that I had certain beliefs about men. I so badly wanted to trust men, I wanted to feel taken care of by men, and I wanted to feel that men honored women, but my mind saw it differently. So, I tuned inward, into this heart exploration, and what I found was this: I had to stop abandoning my own heart for another's. This seminal lesson helped me start building trust. By taking care of and honoring my own precious heart; even when I knew it didn't feel good to another, I was experiencing trust. And I found truth expressed from my own heart, the message was always received.
From my own foundation of trust, I learned to honor men where they were at and thus see them in their wholeness. My whole relationship to men has changed and I now delight in my relating with them. I see my old mis-trusting self so clearly in many of my sisters and I also see how many men are struggling to trust women. I know women that have no issues with men, but don't trust other women. And the same goes for men not trusting other men. Whatever the trust issues are; yoga and meditation help us heal the division within ourselves.
I continue to foster my trust of men, and with that, Ben and I are delighted to start our next, "Yoga and Meditation for Men" series. Holding the classes virtually still proves to be effective and in some ways, better. Men that have been skeptical of having a woman co-lead a men's series have opened their hearts and trusted what we are offering. They see and feel the benefits to having me there. And, it is an honor for me to have a window into these men's hearts; what I see is pure beauty...
We are excited to start the next, "Yoga and Meditation for Men"series this Wednesday, April 22. Men, we would love for you to join us. Women, please pass this on to any man that you think this series could benefit. And if you have already completed one of these before with us, no two series are the same, largely in part because of who is in the group, but also the topics we cover. We love repeat students. More info on the flyer below.
Meanwhile, how are you practicing trust in your life? What does it look like on your mat/meditation cushion? What poses, what movement(s) allow you to explore Trust? Let me know. I love hearing from you.
I TRUST that you all are ok, even in your unokayness.(That's quite a word Shari). AND I am sending lots and lots of love to all of you. This is hard.
And finally; Tomorrow! Guess what? The Practice theme will be TRUST. Let me know if you will be attending and I will send you the zoom link. It will be really helpful for me to have your answers to the above questions to prepare for class. Please send those with your intention to attend.
Namaste,
Shari
P.S. I had my friend Dan Gaube of Tahoe Mountain Collective make this heart for Ben for our anniversary Tuesday. I can get you in touch with him if you must have one. I love it! I feel like it is a beautiful symbol of healing the division, of us coming together and remembering our wholeness.
The Practice
Fridays 8-10AM
Donation Based $1-$20
Respond to the Email and I will send you the Zoom Link
Venmo @Shari-Beard-1 or Paypal.Me/sharibeardyoga
