PranaBeing blog: First Things First

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I have been a student of daily routine and committed practice for almost 23 years (more than half my life!). Over the course of these years, I’ve experimented, explored, observed, and struggled.

I continue to learn about myself, about life, and about health.

I continue to challenge my beliefs about freedom, agency, control, and what it means to be a conscious creator.

Inputs are among of the most powerful ways we influence ourselves. What we choose to connect with—and when and how we take things in or take action—affects our body, mind, emotions, and perceptions. This in turn affects how we interact and show up in life.

Gurudev often explained to me how unconscious patterns are built into our lifestyle as habits that support and reinforce inhibitions and false self-concepts. When I first heard this from him, I didn’t want to believe it; but after years of exploring, I have realized the truth.

Whenever we are struggling, whether physically, mentally, emotionally, or relationally, we need to look to how we are living to find the levers that will allow us to create change.

I’ve found that the more important something is, the more essential it is to do that thing FIRST in my day. The more the day unfolds, the less likely it is for me to be able to guarantee anything getting done!

Waking up to who I AM and being fully alive is my #1 priority. Consequently, I choose to start my day by cultivating life energy and connecting with my Self through sadhana (practice). The specifics look different on different days, but the core of the practice is experiencing myself as a prana-Being.

Especially if you are struggling with stress or worry, I advise you not to tap in to what causes you stress as soon as you become conscious. Skip scrolling Facebook or the news first thing. Make your work wait until after breakfast. You can be of service in the world after you have fed yourself (unless you are a mom; this requires a whole different level of practice).

Instead, make a point to connect with yourself before you invite anyone or anything from the external world to take up space in your consciousness, or claim a stake on your precious life energy.

If you are wondering what kind of tools you can use to connect with yourself, try one of my guided practices on Insight Timer. Pick one that fits your available time and practice it as one of the first things you do in your day. Try it for a week and see how it influences your quality of life.

Sample morning routine:

  1. Wake up

  2. Go to the bathroom

  3. Brush your teeth and wash your face

  4. Drink 8-16oz warm water (squeeze of lemon or lime optional)

  5. Connect with yourself through practice

  6. Now you’re ready for the day! Let ‘er rip!

I’d love to hear about your journey.

Connect with yourSelf before you connect to anything else.

You are the key to your health, harmony, and happiness.

PranaBeing blog: Show up

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This summer I spent 113 days riding a bicycle around the Rocky Mountains. And I do mean around. You can check out my Facebook feed to read about the journey. I spent the first five months of the year helping my mom through a severe health crisis.

Sometimes we have a choice as to whether to show up, and sometimes we don’t.

Sometimes we’re just in it.

The challenge we are facing might be the obvious result of our own choice—as in my case with the bike adventure—or it could be a culmination of unknown variables resulting in a dire and non-negotiable situation, as with my mom.

Some things I learned over the last few months:

  • The choice in any given moment is to show up or give up.

  • Even if we give up, the experience at hand will still play out (i.e. have its way with us). This means giving up does not guarantee escape.

  • We don’t have to be perfect, happy, have our shit together, or be superlative in any way in order to show up.

  • When we choose to show up, something happens. Life responds, inside and outside.

  • We can give in and show up. Surrender is not the same as giving up. Sometimes giving in is the only way we can show up.

Showing up is the opposite of avoidance. With practice, tools, and support, showing up can teach us how to stop disassociating in the face of things that scare us. As we explore in the practice of asana (postures), showing up is coming to your edge. Breathing there. Not backing away; not pushing.

The breakthrough can only happen if you show up.

In my experience, when we show up, the breakthrough will happen. It’s only a matter of time.

PranaBeing blog: Inputs

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Ayurveda asserts that one of the three pillars of health is aahara, inputs. This is commonly translated as “food.” But inputs actually comprise much more than what we put in our mouths. Inputs include food, water, breath, and perceptions.

Consider that everything we take in physically, through sensory experience as well as through the mind, is an input to our system. Every input is subject to the process of digestion.

These two factors—the inputs, and the capacity to digest—determine the outputs.

Outputs include body tissues, thoughts, emotions, and actions.

When you want to make any change in your health, relationships, or your capacity to perform action, look to your inputs.

What are you taking in as food, water, breath and perceptions? How is it supporting or undermining you?

If you want to learn more about how to optimize your inputs toward actualizing your desired outputs, consider inquiring about an Ayurvedic Health Consultation.

Leave a comment below: what inputs are supporting you? Which ones are undermining you? Can you see how your inputs are connected to the quality of your body tissues, mental and emotional default, and your capacity to perform action?