I want you to ask yourself when was the last time you truly sat in stillness? What is your perception on stillness? How do you feel about being still?
I want to share with you my recent knowledge that I have gained from bringing stillness into my daily life.
Our daily lives can become so busy and chaotic. Our body and mind almost never get the chance to slow down and relax, therefore it’s working on overdrive. That is when you can experience physical symptoms such as exhaustion, irritation, headaches, tight and sore muscles and much more. It is important to take time for yourself, to slow down and truly relax as it will benefit your well-being. There are many things out there that can help, but I will say that whatever you engage yourself in, whether its taking a hot bath, going for a long walk, drinking a cup of tea; if you are thinking about what you need next or your daily tasks than this is not stillness. That is not the full depth of relaxation that your body is looking for.
Practising presence so that you can fully engage yourself in stillness, is a practise. For most it can be challenging in the beginning. What I mean to become fully present is to slow your thoughts down, take in what is around you and become aware of your body and it’s sensations. Utilize your 5 senses, re- awaken them.
Have you ever gone throughout a busy day and forgot to eat? You were so caught up in the business, deadlines, task completion that you forgot to nourish your body. If so, don’t judge yourself, this is human and we’ve all been there. My point I am getting across is when we forget to acknowledge our body’s needs, it means we have slipped away from the present moment.
If we are constantly thinking about the future or dwelling on the past than it makes sense why big decisions in the present can be so hard. Our mind isn’t clear. Body is anxious. Fear can set in. Confidence can drop.
I will share with you that I am naturally a busy bee, I enjoy being busy and moving through life quickly. When yoga came into my life I only did dynamic, vinyasa and power yoga. These styles were challenging and fast paced. The quicker I was able to move through the poses and work up a sweat, the better. In many ways my body was benefiting from this practise, it was all positive. It is okay to be quick, but this was comfortable for me. Fear and anxiety are big emotions in my life that I have found challenging to navigate through. Quick paced yoga practises benefited me to an extent, however it wasn’t a full benefit when it came to working through anxiety and fear.
Meditation came into my life, and that challenged me. I found the beginning was uncomfortable because of how long I had to sit in a place. My body was not accustomed to that. My first experience with true stillness was uncomfortable and foreign to me, to the extent that I was almost afraid of it. With practise, I eventually eased my way into stillness like dipping a toe into a cold body of water, until I submersed myself fully.
Accepting the challenge of becoming still, finding ease in a place where I felt uncomfortable was LIBERATING. Operating from a place of comfort is positive, however if you want to make a change, a shift, than you need to exceed yourself. To remain in a place of comfort with little challenge is not exceeding yourself.
I utilized stillness to calm my anxiety, to guide me through the fears I was feeling about big decisions. Stillness encouraged me to sit with my fears and get real with them. Acknowledge them and truly spend the time to work with them, from a clear space of mind.
From a space of peace and calm.
When you allow yourself to truly come into stillness, your muscles are relaxed, mind is calm. You will be able to make a decision with clarity instead of taking a step further into fog and with little confidence. You will create space to re-evaluate your perceptions. You will provide yourself with the space to awaken your intuition, to connect with your intuition. You will be operating from a vibration of love, trust, confidence and peace.
Don’t underestimate stillness. Allow yourself to be in that space, it is not a waste of time however an investment of time.
