Before the Good Stuff
Did you know that the original purpose of doing yoga postures was to prepare the body and mind for meditation? Yes, it’s true, the goal was never tight abs and a rockin’ ass.
Still, meditation does not come easy. For the vast majority of us, it never has. As we add more and more to our lives, it grows even harder. Just ask me.
I used to wake up every morning at 5am to practice yoga – or to lead it. I worked, studied and taught at the largest yoga center in the world…and it was still hard for me to just sit down and be still.
And then, I had children and built a business, and I forgot that meditation existed. The yoga stopped.
Until last week. Something happened and I pulled out my yoga mat and, AH!, did yoga. And then something else happened…This morning, after I finished my postures, my body literally pulled me down, gently closed my eyes and dropped me into a peaceful, restful state of meditation. Block cities were being built around me, a three year-old curled into my lotus lap. But it didn’t matter. I could have sat there all day.
If you must know, I (and several of my family members) have been trying for the last three years to make myself be still, even for one minute. It’s been an unattainable goal. And I realized this morning that it was because I had forgotten the critical step. That I couldn’t just jump from crazy life to meditation, but that I had to prepare my body first.
What I was struck by was that my writing process is the exact opposite. My writing focus, that lucious connection to muse, blasts from the most chaotic and harried of moments. There is no time of preparation. There is just life and then words. Yes, I’ve written that walking in the morning helps stir my brain and stimulate words, but even then my mind is swirling and then boom.
Ah, grasshopper…so maybe my preparation is the chaos? Perhaps there is some method to this madness? Perchance ‘no preparation’ is my gameplan. What’s yours?
Image by Joe Shlabotnik
Filed under Critical Copywriting, How To, The Business | Tags: copywriting, creative writing, how to write, Juile Roads, marketing writing, meditation, Writing, writing process, Writing Roads, yoga | Comments (3)Blogasana
My favorite part of teaching is learning from my students. There’s something very special that happens when a teacher, no matter how well they know their material, gets to see it all again from the perspectives of their various students.
From the students’ place of not knowing, their gifts to the teacher are questions, comments and insights from a completely new vantage point. And this past weekend, teaching at Geek Girl Camp was no different.
My newest students were curious about how to incorporate blogging into their lives (work and personal) and how to come up with content. Someone had also noticed that I used to teach at Kripalu Yoga Center, and we talked about the natural leap in teaching topics that I’ve experienced. At the heart of it – I love to share and teach subjects that I’m passionate about and that have affected, and continue to influence, my life on a daily basis.
And, of course, it got me thinking that learning to blog and learning to do yoga aren’t that different, after all:
- In yoga, you hold a pose and you breathe watching the sensations that come up as you keep yourself in this new position – they reveal so much about you. As you start your blog, do the same: be a blogger, read other blogs, write blog posts – and notice how you feel. Do you like it? Are you nervous and scared? Is it clear that this is not for you? Can you not wait to learn everything there is to learn? Should you challenge your fear or walk away? Let your reaction inform your next steps.
- Then, as you hold the pose, I recommend that you move within it. Turn your palms up or down, bend deeper into Warrior, move your head from side to side. And, as you blog, do the same. Try a longer post one day, interview someone, offer a daily tip, add video. Play around to find the right spot, the sweet spot on your blog real estate.
- Notice that every day is different. Down dog might feel great on Monday and terrible on Tuesday; sometimes you need a day of stress-reducing stretches, other days you want a vigorous Vinyasa flow. With your blog, you’ll find some days where you have 20 ideas for posts and others where you can’t think of anything to write (in which case you should just walk away from the computer!)
- Real life creeps into poses and poses pounce into real life – yoga can be a crystal ball and a mirror. Having trouble in your relationship? A heart opening posture like Fish (Matsyasana) will likely be difficult, if not plain uncomfortable. And, then, watching a colleague running around like a chicken with his head cut off, you start schooling him on the benefits of the breath and taking time to stretch. You find yourself demonstrating Svasana (the resting pose) in the middle of the conference room table. Of course, it’s blog true as well. My life almost always lands on this page. And the ability to find a beginning, middle and end is something that I bring from my blog to my life as a systematic way of finding order. As a writer and as a practitioner, you can count on it.
My yoga practice has shifted dramatically-it isn’t gone, but it looks very different. I’m not on the mat every morning at 5:30 like I used to be. I’m in bed with my family. I don’t do sun salutations, I take long walks in the woods. My meditation is still sacred and full of revelation and self-discovery; yet, instead of flowing to the sound of my breath, it marches steadily forward to the sound of my fingers on the keyboard.
And as any good yogi and writer knows, this too will shift, change and grow. Personally, I can’t wait.
Image by Tony George
Filed under Blogging, How To | Tags: asanas, blog, Blogging, Julie Roads, Writing, Writing Roads, yoga | Comments (7)
