I don't know about you but I certainly could easily replace these worries with my own....

I worried will I be able to get through this long day?
I worried do I look fat? 
I worried am I aging poorly?
I worried did I answer all of my emails and texts?
I worried are my students getting bored?
I worried am I going to have a good voice for this performance?
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The list goes on and on and on and on.....

Sound familiar? Our worrying is a never ending human condition. We become almost addicted to it, I know if I feel good and suddenly realize I haven't worried about something I worry that that means something must be wrong! Ha! I love when Mary Oliver says "FINALLY I saw that worrying had come to nothing. And I gave it up..." 

I don't think she meant that it just disappeared, but I think she meant that she gave up giving power to the worry, and giving into the "celebration" that is so common with worrying. How often do we let the worry of "am I too inflexible" stop us from trying a new asana? How often do we let the worry of "not having enough upper body strength" prevent us from starting a crow practice? Or how often do we (especially myself) put off preparing and having fun for the big audition because we're worried that we aren't good enough? When I convince myself that my worrying is worthy then I put off action. 

I want to challenge myself and all of you to GIVE UP worry this week. It doesn't mean you ignore or push it away, but instead recognize it when it enters your being and make the choice to move through the worry. The minute I choose to say YES I am worrying about this audition but you know what damnit I'm going to do it anyway, we become empowered. We give over to the present moment and to the choices that are demanded of us in that moment. You see we're really avoiding making those choices, much like we would avoid writing a big paper in college. We give over to the doubts and worry and when we do that we feed the monster.  When I'm on my mat I cringe at certain challenging asana when they're offered in a class. Compass pose is one of them. I worry my hips aren't open enough, that I'll look silly, and mostly that I'll prove myself right that my hips are tight and I'm not making any progress. Ok I recognize these thoughts now as worry...if I decide to give up that worry and move ahead instead I'm always surprised. WOW my hips are opening in their own way, that felt better today than it did last week...or hmmm maybe those hips are really tight today and that's just where I am. But damnit I did it! I took the bull by the horns and I did it. 

Let's give up worry together this week and just like Mary Oliver...let's go out in the morning and SING! 

This week we'll focus on a soulful moving vinyasa that will get us moving and out of our heads. I hope you'll join me! I'm on a bit of a limited teaching schedule this week as I prepare and do a performance mid week. But come join when you can. If you're reading this blog and are dying to try yoga please reach out to me. I'm happy to have you attend one of my classes for FREE as my guest. 

Namaste beautiful ones,
Justin 
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