In keeping with the theme Babaji offered for the new year, the three points of reference are restraint, compassion, and giving. Last week I wrote about giving in the name of the body and filling our cups first. Filling your cup first makes for generous, authentic giving since it is in our nature to share, contribute, and be a part of a community, even if it doesn't always feel that way, especially from generous eyes looking out into a world that seems pretty detached. Please consider that most "selfish" people may be both physically (which includes nutritionally) and mentally depleted.
Let's keep filling your cup so that you can keep going and spreading your generosity in ways that are authentic to you. In this blog, our focus is the mind, also called manomaya kosha. I wrote a whole chapter on manomaya kosha in my book, Awakening the Body of Wellness. For now, let's touch on a few things. One, thoughts are things, and we have enough stuff. Filling your cup also has a lot to do with emptying your cup. Two, the mind can feel off when the body struggles to digest food or detoxify and eliminate waste. Three, changing your body about your mind is more beneficial than you can imagine.
Filling our cups has a lot to do with emptying our cups. It might be a misunderstanding when we think about today's world and how detached people seem. True detachment comes with maturing into your authentic self and not attaching to the outcome of doing what you value. Disconnection may be a more appropriate term, bringing me to what I mean by writing; we have too many things. Thoughts are things. All things can be a distraction from our true authentic, mature selves. Pranayama is my favorite way to clear my mind and empty my cup before I begin each day. Pranayama is a practice of purification for the body and the mind. Connecting with Prana can allow you to feel unconditional Love and compassion as a foundation of support. It's a great way to realign, connect and start again.
I'd love for you to partake in this experiment I am running. The next time you feel mentally overwhelmed or out of balance, recall what you ate or drank in the last few days, and please don't overlook what you drank. Notice your sleep patterns and bowel movements since lack of or change in consistency can indicate that something you are consuming is not working for you at this time. Feel free to share your findings after a mentally challenging day, and you recorded a food log of the previous few days. As the body matures (I purposely decided to use the word "matures" rather than "ages"), processes naturally change. Mature is the correct word since that is precisely the sentiment to prefer as time passes. We want the relationship with our body/mind to mature. You can learn to appreciate the language it speaks, and when you do, body/mind reactions happen for you, not to you.
"Change your Body about your Mind" is one of my favorite Tom Myer quotes, and it's why I so profoundly love a fascia yoga practice. The practice is all about you. What I mean is that you try to practice each pose without losing your integrity; core integrity, that is. Isn't that a wonderful thought to do something, anything that you do, and you do it from and with integrity? Then, you do what you do from being aligned with what you value. I am making that sound simple. I recently talked about this with someone I am working with privately. We talked about how much more interested and invested she feels during the group fascia yoga classes after a few sessions of personalized attention. She appears stronger in her body and now knows what core alignment feels like for her, and therefore she can sense when she isn't aligned and another set of muscles are unnecessarily firing. Fascia yoga is how we can change the body about the mind. Feeling the shift away from core integrity and returning before you try to do your pose is like having a back-and-forth disagreement and landing in present-moment awareness where you feel your feelings but don't have to attach a past story to allow them. Present-moment awareness will enable us to relax, realign and move through.
Image by Barbara Evans