Sit Down

"Mommy sit down," she said while sitting on my zafu and holding my mala beads. She then took a deep breath in and a deep breath out, mimicking what I do each time I sit in my own meditation.

I have to be honest... when this happened I felt like I was absolutely CRUSHING the parenting game.

My daughter, Allana, just turned 7 a few months ago; and in those 7 years, I've been navigating motherhood, work, opening the studio and a global pandemic, all while hoping to instill as many good habits in her possible (and trying to not lose my mind).

It's been such a beautiful learning experience because it's required me to take all of these practices I've spent the last 20+ years learning - yoga, meditation, positive psychology and then figuring out a way to break them down and explain it in a way that a child can understand them.

So, when I go to practice this is what I say...

I’m going to meditate. That's when I take a few minutes to be quiet and just breathe in and out. This makes me feel calm and happy so I can have a great day.

It sounds so simple when you read it like this, but it's also true, right?

We spend so much time learning the ins and outs of this yogic path. We learn the history and philosophy and study ancient texts. We spend hours coming in and out of asanas and break down the alignment of each so we can get the best benefit of each asana. We memorize Sanskrit and focus on the how-to of pranayama. We try and wrap our brains around subtle body work and how to align our chakras and koshas.

One of my favorite parts about yoga is that there is always more to learn. But, in trying to learn it all it's also easy to lose track of why we started studying in the first place. So we can feel calm and be happy.

Even though I'm a huge proponent that there is ALWAYS something new to learn, I also want to remind you to create space to find the simple joys, little mat celebrations and those “oh shit” or “a-ha” moments in this beautiful practice.

Yoga, both practice and teaching isn't meant to be perfected, that's why it's called practice.

We show up with all of our human imperfections and we move and breathe and even if we stumble, we can still walk away having achieved the most important part which is finding peace and joy.

So let this be your reminder to lighten up today. To take a moment to breathe in and breathe out and to let it be just because it makes you feel good.

This is your reminder to smile. To love. To laugh.

When you do it for yourself, you inspire others to do the same. Even the littlest ones.

Peace, Love & Yoga

- Cathy