Less is more

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So I’m not talking about clothing – especially in Winter!  I’m talking about our lives, this constant state of busy we all seem to be exisiting in.

Sometimes in order to achieve more – we need to simply do less!

This week, my brain has been cluttered with all the many things I have had to plan and fit in.  My brain was so full that I just could not obtain clarity.

So in a bold move – in order to achieve all the many things I had to do, I did NOTHING!

I sat outside with a cup of coffee and the sun on my skin and I did nothing but sit, and think and breathe.

I sat still long enough to clear the clutter, to find the clarity I desperately needed to find, and like magic it felt as though gaps started appearing in my day.

They were of course always there, I was just too clouded to see them.

Being busy all the time isn’t productive, it isn’t something to feel proud of,  yet we all (myself included) seem to fall prey to the “How are you?” Busy! scenario.

Why?

I think somewhere along the way, being busy became a badge of honour.

Well I am here to tell you there is more to life.

We can achieve more by not being “busy” all of the time.

Take some time to think, to sit and just simply BE …..

…..and watch your life transform in the most positive and magical way.

I DARE YOU 🙂

 

11 things you may not know about me (does the 11 not 10 indicate my randomness)

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  1. I am a sponge for people’s energy – I feel this is both a blessing and curse.  It is both a weakness and a strength.  At times I absorb too much, I allow other peoples energy to weigh me down, yet this is also a blessing when I surround myself around positive like-minded people I can feed off their energy, as I know people feed off mine.
  2. I am a walking contradiction – I love to find moments of calmness, yet I attract crazy; crazy situations, people and moments and I also thrive on the randomness of this and the good crazy that I and my life is. I teach body balance, I have excellent balance, yet I am ridiculously clumsy and trip over nothing several times a day. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my hair and I rarely wear makeup or do other “girly” things, yet look out world if my nail polish is chipped on my toes it seriously distresses me to epic proportions.
  3. I am a great cook but terrible at baking. I heard once that cooking is an art and baking is a science and if that is true then it makes perfect sense to me.  I love to throw things together and create. I hate having to have exact measurement s and stir for the exact time I am told to.  I love the challenge of having a few random edible items at home and making them into something amazing.
  4. I am messy, no really I am for a tiny little person I can create mess of cyclonic proportions in about two minutes – I truly don’t know how I do it, it’s quite amazing.  My house can go from spotless to war zone in about 5 minutes.  I don’t know what I do but man I do it well.
  5. I sometimes feel like a yogi imposter – #secretnownotsosecretconfessionsofayogi – I do yoga and I eat meat, drink coffee and drink alcohol – there I said it – I do it all!
  6. I love to write, but I hate punctuation; I just finished a job in communications and marketing and don’t get me wrong I understand the importance of punctuation but I love to just let my fingers fly across a keyboard and unleash an unconscious stream of thoughts onto my laptop and see what appears (kind of like I am doing right now).
  7. I have an irrational fear of bees and birds.  Birds make me nervous – seriously I just do not trust them and always feel like they are plotting against me.
  8. I try really hard to like olives – I really dislike them – but feel like it’s something I should love, so keep trying them with not much success so far.
  9. I love it when people are kind and authentic – no really I looooove it. The world needs more of it and when I see it my heart swells open like you would not believe.
  10. I am a witch – a good witch not an evil one – I see things coming an hour, a day, a week before things happen, I sense it, I feel it, I predict it.  I don’t try to do it – it just happens.  Sometimes I wonder if I am just one of those in-tune people, other times I wonder if I am from the future – true story! I can’t switch it on or off, it is just on the whole time.
  11. I love the beach, sunsets, full moons, rainbows and anything beautiful that comes from nature – this is probably something most of you would already know – but the energy and excitement I get is something that only a few of you really would understand.  Those friends who I have literally yelled at to get ready faster as the sun is setting, my poor husband who has been bitten by mosquitos on numerous occasions as I race out for just one last look at the full moon. The work that I left in my inbox as I just knew a rainbow would appear and I had to leave the office immediately. People think I am weird but I don’t care – and something that makes me more happy than any of you would ever know is the people who send me a pic of any of these things, who know I would appreciate it, who now appreciate these things because of me, who have just stopped for a moment to appreciate – that to me is the most amazing thing.

I am a yoga instructor and here are my truths

Sometimes I awake at silly o’clock at times to teach a class, I boil the kettle and jump in a quick wake up shower.

Occasionally I internally battle with my NEED for morning coffee.

Occasionally hearing my yoga teacher in my head (let’s protect his identity and call him Mr M)  telling me how bad caffeine is, I have read the studies and he is an intelligent guy so I am pretty confident the studies and he is right.

Yet that voice is always quickly quieted by the louder “get out of the shower so you have time to slam that morning coffee down” voice screeching at me from under the soothing refreshing water pouring over my head, calming me from the evil alarm that made me want to forget about the Ahimsa Yama and instead of being a non violent person, sometimes I just want to punch that beeping alarm in its beeping face.

I lapse into a happy serene daydream under that shower, momentarily forgetting the world, blissfully euphoric under a cascade of soothing water, until the screeching coffee need inner voice returns with a jolt yelling “now you idiot- get out now!”

So I reluctantly get out of the shower I throw on my yoga gear, I almost never do my hair, yogis don’t do hair and makeup right – we are natural and beautiful and content with our natural beauty.

Riiiiiiight?

Hellllllooooo????

Anyone?????

Now don’t be too shocked I do smear a bit of moisturizer and sunscreen on my face –  I’m not an animal.

Anyway where was I?

Coffee/Yoga
Yoga/Yamas
Yoga/Coffee

Anyway coffee…..

That beautiful liquid that allows me to regularly practice Ahimsa and be non violent to myself or others 🙂

See I also practice Satya as you can see my the many truths revealed in this story.

Yes I slam my coffee down – I say slam as I couldn’t possibly set my alarm 5 minutes earlier to allow me to sip my morning coffee like a civilized human.

I eat a tiny bit of toast normally with peanut butter that nine times out of ten I am wiping off my pants during the journey to class – Don’t ask I am as baffled as you are!

I race to my class feeling tired and slightly disheveled.

I am sometimes still angry at my alarm for making me wake so early – I have forgotten all about the 4th Niyama – non judgement.

I arrive at class, I roll my mat out and a strange peaceful calm transcends over my body.

I step onto my yoga mat and sit peacefully awaiting (secretly hoping) (sometimes worrying) that someone will actually turn up at this ungdly hour.

The people file in they are subdued, undoubtedly as tired as me.

I smile at them knowingly, I smile at them compassionately.

I smile, as being a yoga instructor is the most rewarding fulfilling job I can have imagined myself living. It can also be a lonely world as a self-employed instructor so I smile for me, for the simple fact that I am sharing my space with another human.

I smile in appreciation that they too got up early for me or for themselves, they choose my class out of all the many classes and I feel honoured.

I smile as for that next hour my life exists purely for them – my thoughts are no longer my own, my being is a vehicle to inspire others, to motivate, to exist for them and them alone.

My thoughts, doubts, fears, insecurities, excitement, preoccupied dreams can be mine again maybe ten minutes after class but for that moment and for every class that I teach, my thoughts are not my own.  For during this time, I practice and I honour all the Yamas, the Niyamas, prana, I honour my teachers, I honour myself and I honour each and every person in that room.

I am an instructor I am watching people grow; mentally, physically and emotionally.

I momentarily feel silly for my alarm induced rage.

My feelings of tiredness have vanished.

I am ok with my decision to drink coffee (sorry Mr M) I don’t do drugs, I don’t drink excessively, I don’t even eat a lot of meat I am mostly a vegetarian without even being vegetarian.

I am kind to others and I try to always be kind to myself.

I believe in energy and I vow to beam all the positive energy I have inside out of my heart and into my students.

I am a coffee drinking yoga instructor I sometimes have crazy hair and I always have awesome yoga pants.

I am a loving yoga instructor who loves life, who loves to help others and chooses to hate nothing except for alarms.

I am a walking contradiction of mayhem and calm.

I am a yoga instructor and these are my truths.

 

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Who am I?

Today; in between getting up at 5am teaching two morning fitness classes, doing remedial work with a lady at a nursing home, learning choreography, doing my invoices, meditating for 20 minutes and mentally preparing for the next two classes of the evening, I caught my reflection in my blender and wondered who the frick am I ?

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I mean seriously, look at this blender filled with green goodness, when did I turn from the KFC eating high school punk to the exercising, spiritual, kale drinking smoothie I have become?

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Who is this fit, flexible girl I see staring back at me from the pictures, this same girl who used to hate the gym who now teaches at them promoting fitness on a regular basis.

This small framed girl who is suddenly (without warning it feels ) is covered on muscles.

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This girl who is still me, who is still the same but is also completely different.

This girl who just went to Perth with her girlfriends and ate her body weight in cheese, bread, chocolate, coffee and wine~
~ and would do that every weekend if she could 🙂

This girl who teaches yoga to people to relax, then blurts out words excitedly, quickly in an anything but relaxed manner.

This girl who teaches body balance, then trips over nothing on the way out of class.

This pilates trainer who has a strong core but can not do a handstand.

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This girl who lives life with reckless abandon who craves adventure yet yearns for serenity.

This girl who feels so young at heart, yet knows she is growing older.

Who am I ?

A walking contradiction, or simply a girl wanting to experience everything, to be everything, to feel everything.

To be the best person I can be inside and out.

To be who I am without even really knowing who I am myself!
So my advice to you all, should you find yourself staring at your reflection through a green mush of kale, don’t question, don’t stress, don’t judge – just be!

A full milky moon, a full grateful heart.

I am sitting outside by myself, rugged up in a warm wooly hoody and ugg boots.

I am trying to be still so as not to jolt my sensor light and destroy the magic of the night.

I gaze up at the stars not covered by clouds and I type quickly as a full, milky moon is rising, currently it is partially hidden my trees.

I am alone, I am happy, I am content!

My husband just left to play football and for a brief moment I was lost, until that is I came outside.

Now I am lost in the happiest, peaceful of ways.

There is something so incredible about being apart of something so large as the universe.

Watching a sunset, looking at the stars, witnessing a full, super, milky, rare moon is a gift that no technology, person or possession can ever provide.

When you can allow yourself to just simply be; to switch off, to just appreciate everything the world has to offer then I believe you can find true happiness anywhere.

As the moon now makes it way above the trees, I am signing off to appreciate this moment with a grateful heart and a happy soul.

What if……..

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How often have you had a terrible class, your mind is unfocused and cluttered, and everything you seem to try fails.

So often it is the thoughts we have before even stepping foot on our mat that have the greatest impact on how our class will play out.

Those thoughts of what if I am not good enough, fit enough, flexible enough.

What if everyone in the room is better than me….

Those negatives ‘what if’s’ will break you.

What if:

As you picked up your yoga mat you thought whatever happens in this next hour is ok;

What if :

As you rolled out your mat you thought, I am here, I am trying, I am exactly where I am meant to be in my practice and my life and I am perfectly happy with that;

What if:

At the end of the class whatever the outcome you felt proud of everything you just achieved, rather than berating yourself for the things you didn’t!

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What if you turned yourself into a warrior and not a worrier.

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Refuse to let self doubt ruin you

This week I experienced self-doubt; it threw me off balance and left me quite off center.

Self-doubt once it takes hold, has the ability to bury itself deeply inside you.

Self-doubt can ruin you, if you allow it!

I am not going to lie, my self-doubt episode made me cry. My self-doubt caused me to lay awake that night, feeling inadequate and annoyed.

My self-doubt also allowed me to wake up the next morning, filled with positive determination to get rid of it.

Which is precisely what I did!

I did this, by focussing on positive things, people and comments. I did this by choosing not to dwell on my tiny mistake, but be proactive in finding ways to move forward, to improve, to grow.

I would love to say that my self-doubt will never come back, that I am stronger than that, but that would be a lie, for I am human, and as humans even the strongest of us, fall apart from time to time, and you know what I am ok with that.

Our minds are pretty darn amazing at turning negatives to positives if we keep training them to do so.

Life isn’t black and white

Life isn’t black and white.

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I think problems in our minds, in our lives arise when the image of our perfect life fades, when we expected a black and white situation to play out a certain way….

Life is anything but black and white, expectations can lead to let downs and sometimes whilst waiting for your black and white situation to play out you are missing the rich vibrant colourful moments, people and events occurring all around you.

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Sunsets a positive sign from the universe

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Yesterday afternoon, as a full day of yoga training finished, a sea of smiling content faces were basked in an orange glow as the sun set behind us.

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This morning I woke up filled with excitement for another day of training, I thought about the beautiful sunsets I have been lucky enough to view this week.

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This morning I had a thought, maybe the sky gives us a sign that we are on the right life path. When the positive creative thoughts transpire from our heart and our soul and are mirrored into the universe as a beautiful vibrant sunset.

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Each day I am fortunate to teach beautiful people; their drive, their motivation, their dedication inspires me each and every day.

Their energy feeds me, their smiles warm my heart and their struggles inspire me.

Now I have new teachers to inspire and motivate me, their beautiful energy flows through me, and I will pass this on to my class members, my friends and my family.

This beautiful flow on of positive energy is happening, and all the while the universe quietly sits by, watching and smiling.

Positivity is contagious, good energy is electric.

One good thought in the morning can really change your entire day.

As I think about the sunsets of late and have watched the skies become a rich tapestry of colour as the positive energy fills the universe and the cycle continues, I have never been more sure of this.

How to be beautiful

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Love your self from the inside out.
Walk tall with self-confidence.
Think lovely thoughts.
Smile from your heart and with your eyes.
Stop comparing yourself to others love the skin you’re in.
Dress in clothes that make you happy not just in clothes you feel you should wear.
Feel happy, wonderful, positive for all the great things you have – then watch the glow that comes into your soul and shines out of your body.
Be kind to yourself and others.
Be unique, be you, beYOUtiful!