Just Be vs. Just Do It


I’m one of those people who is really into efficiency. I like to be on time (OK, confession – I arrive on the early side. There are those people who are always late, well, you can count on me to always be early). I’m a planner and it makes me happy when things flow smoothly.

So somehow, my planning and efficiency and being early land me at Jivamukti London with half an hour or more to spare before class starts. At first I viewed this as, you guessed it, inefficient. But then, this “stolen” time turned into a luxury…I plop down on my mat, do some restorative yoga, and mostly just lie there. Closer to class time, I let the rush of incoming students swirl around me. I’m already in a different place. I’ve had the luxury of letting go of everything it takes to get me there (5 year old school drop off, 2 rush hour tube rides with a stop off at Starbuck’s in between, one bus ride), of just being able to roll around on my mat and clear my head. By the time class starts, I feel like a clean slate. I realized today that this may be one of my favorite London memories in the making.
This happened to me by accident, because I can almost guarantee that if I had planned the down time, it wouldn’t have worked out quite as brilliantly. It’s as if the universe decided to address my type-A tendencies. It’s reminded me that we don’t always need to be doing, and how important and self-nurturing it is to spend some time just being. What do you do to just be? I’d love to know…Namaste.