I am stuck with a lingering question ….when did we stop trusting ourselves to make decisions without comparison and without pages and pages of information about the thing we are not trusting ourselves with to convince us to take the leap and say yes!
This question – when did we become afraid to try new things? – or when did our curiosity or attraction to possibility go to sleep?
I say this in the context of newfound marketing strategies that I have had to learn to market my yoga and pranayama / breathing courses and which have left me befuddled – it seems in order for me to reach you I have to manipulate or convince you to try something new through various tactics, least of which is telling you how great other people found the course/yoga. This apparently makes me trustworthy. I am struggling with this. I guess in the old days, people would talk to each other and maybe even observe change in a person which would pique curiosity and without that direct access, we need to be told that something is great and change is possible.
I don’t want to have to tell you how much other people loved the course I am offering or their reasons why they loved it or what they experienced – as if this makes it worth your while and in the meantime may even limit your potential experience because now you have a benchmark that your psyche will compare and contrast your experience to.
In my ideal world, and the world of yoga philosophy, your curiosity about what your breath and body can do, for 30 minutes a day, 30 days in a row, is what I want you to lean into, and I want you fearlessly to embark on something so natural and so good for you because you already have a body and breath – there are no real obstacles to what is possible! It is not like you are bound to break a leg – the risks here are small.
I don’t want to sell you the benefits which are many – I want you to feel into your gut and trust the nudge in you rather than letting the tail (your mind) lead the donkey (your essential Self). Yes, there is so much out there on offer and discernment is absolutely necessary but we are living from our heads and from comparison to make our own decisions, instead of instinct or trusting ourselves.
Where did our trust in ourselves go that we need to look to others to convince us something is worth doing?
Do you know that by breathing on purpose and deliberately in ancient techniques, you will experience benefits tailored to you and it is going to be good for you in countless different ways. I don’t want to manipulate you that this breathing course, the Pranayama Mandala, will change something in you and answer to a need or solve a problem you are having, I want raw, fearless, self-trusting curiosity. Do you not feel something amazing is possible through changing your breathing?
The same goes for yoga – there is a certain type of student who shows up to make shapes with their bodies where their minds are saying no, nope, not this shape, this is too weird, way beyond my abilities, only to slowly over time be shown otherwise….to gain that trust in themselves and to slowly make strange shapes possible and mental pathways possible and self-trust and courage in the face of gentle risk. The best side-effect – blowing through your own self-sabotage and self-imposed limitations which is a forever life skill.
“As we become more mind oriented,
the safest refuge is in our body and breath
and our highest intelligence will be found there”.