How is your heart?

I recently read this AMAZING article that blew my mind. I encourage you to read it too if you aren't too busy. Basically it talks about how overly scheduled we are in this society...in fact they title it "The DISEASE of Being Busy." I love it. Dis-ease of being busy. In general we are all OVERLY scheduled...I know I certainly can be. I love breaking my schedule down and getting specific so that I can really be held accountable to doing certain tasks that would otherwise loom in the mysterious "someday" pile. I think calendaring and staying on task is absolutely important. But how do we find the balance? When is the last time someone asked you how you're doing and you're response was "I'm SO BUSY." I do it all the time. We then compare war stories about how late we're working, how many hours we've been working, how we're tired, etc, etc. It has become a sort of competition in our society to see who has stayed at work the latest or who has worked the hardest. We're so busy doing things that we rarely check in....

We rarely check in with our hearts. "HOW IS YOUR HEART?" is a question I'm asking myself and others a lot this week. I see it in my students all the time...they rush to class after or before work and are anxious, beaten down by life and their schedules, and the minute you ask "how are you really doing?" they drop the facade and start to tap into their inner life. That inner life is crying out to be heard. It's saying "SLOW DOWN! YOU'RE GOING TOO FAST....YOU'RE IGNORING ME....YOU'RE IGNORING YOUR NEEDS...." The heart is complex...it needs love...it needs care...it needs nurturing... I'm determined to listen to my heart more...and I'm even more determined to share my precious "busy" time with those who want to ask me how my heart is, not those who simply want to use me for their agenda. 

When we come to our mats we give ourselves that gift of going inward. We give ourselves the gift of looking at the heart and seeing what's going on, of noticing how it's doing. This week we will work on that sweet dear heart of ours...but not just the opening of the chest...but the entire heart. What about our back heart? Can we expand the front of the heart AND the back of the heart? Can we notice what space that gives us in our physical and emotional bodies? 

Join me this week for a moving and soulful flow...we are letting go of stagnancy lately which means we are moving more through the practice rather than being still. 

I wish you all the warmest of Thanksgivings...I am truly thankful for you all! 

Namaste,
Justin

P.S. Our RETREAT to Hawaii is almost full! If you're interested you better sign up ASAP! Early bird ends in January!  XOOXOXO