I must do it, even though I realize that many consider New Year’s Resolutions to be crap. But I say, why not take advantage of any opportunity to re-evaluate and improve? And this has been quite an unusual New Year for me, kicking off 2011 in London…which has had me mulling over what I want to do better this year. Something about new country, new year. So let’s call them wishes, vs. resolutions. And have them be words to try and live by, vs. things to beat myself up over later when I don’t do them. And perhaps if you read this blog, they may resonate for you too, since I’d bet we share similar interests. Here goes:
- Deepen my yoga practice. As I’ve always said, yoga is one of the few things in life that I seem to be able to accept as a journey, one which never ends or gets mastered or checked off the to-do list. That is the beauty of it. There is endless opportunity to deepen your yoga journey, and that thought was what carried me through the darker days of getting settled here, far away from home. Tomorrow is my American little girl’s first day of London school, and while I love her dearly, you may hear me all the way in the US as I whoop with joy and hop on the tube to head to yoga class, sans guilt. So I won’t be skiing in Montana this winter, I won’t have my regular routine or be teaching classes, and I am going to take advantage of the space that creates to deepen my own practice. Everyone wins: me and my well-being, my family, those around me, and when I return to teaching, my students.
- Deepen my meditation practice. I’ll admit: meditation has never really turned me on. I am not one to sit still well. But I recognize it as part of the practice that I need to deepen. And something is calling me to it right now, so I plan to heed that call. I discovered that one of the largest Buddhist centers in London is 4 blocks from my flat. Is that a sign, or what? They offer weekly Vipassana meditation instruction and practice. I need this. Now.
- Be here. Now. To borrow the simple yet powerful words of Ram Dass…and to borrow the words of my friend who thinks so much like me it is frightening: In this coming year I am going to be continuing to work on letting go of my personal constant paranoia that whatever it is I am NOT doing must somehow be far superior of an experience than what I AM doing…Maybe all those regrets about decisions made badly were not so – maybe I am where I need to be and doing what I need to be doing. I promise to stop checking the ski report for Big Sky…and just be here, in London, now. But truly, these words to live by can be applied often and anywhere.
- Fire up my inner cowgirl yogini. This is my life, my work, my identity. So I need to fire it up, not just in myself, but in others. It’s the balance of adding a little Yeehaw to my Namaste. It’s playing with my edge, and knowing when to pull back too. And like yoga, it’s a never ending process.
Tell me your 2011 wishes…