When a Reset is Required
When a RESET is required.
Sigh…
This post has TWO parts.
Explaining a change or two I’m making.
Sharing how I got there, wondering if you’ve experienced this and sharing so that you don’t feel alone.
Part the First:
In a burst of energy and curiosity the other day, I created and impulsively posted a quick survey of what you’d like to do together this year.
THEN, I realized that what I want to know is deeper than your curiosities. And I sent out a second survey, a more in-depth questionnaire offering you the "thank you" of a free LIVE restorative yoga practice (a source of great soothing and calm and serenity—things we all need, especially in this moment of time).
A few things happened:
People got confused (Imagine!)
My husband reminded me that 3/17 is St. Patrick’s Day and that we have plans that evening.
So..let me address this first thing first and then I’ll take you through what I’ve been recognizing of late.
I am asking you to complete this questionnaire (6 questions) with your thoughtful answers any time BEFORE SUNDAY 3/23/25 (NOT this Sunday).
To say thank you, I am offering you a FREE ticket to my LIVE Restorative Yoga session (value: $75) now scheduled for 3/24/25 and NOT 3/17. And there WILL be a recording.
If you completed this second questionnaire, I have received your answers and I will be sending out the link to the restorative yoga offering. If you still want to do this (and I hope you will), you have some time.
I am sorry for all of the confusion.
And this leads me to…
Part the Second:
We humans are not always conscious
of what’s happening in us
while it’s happening.
Our nervous system has all kinds of behaviors built in to “protect us.”
And these don’t always serve us in the best ways.
The nervous system is programmed to protect us
when we experience physical danger--like a lion in our face.
Trouble is, our nervous system experiences our fast-paced,
crazy-busy world as though it IS a lion in our face.
Trouble is, we get lost in the fears and the immediacy
that we forget, we lose ourselves.
We stumble.
We even fall down.
We don’t always see the junctures of then and now
of how and why…
And we rarely see when we’re falling apart.
IN FACT, we so resist “falling apart”
that we behave in all manner of conflicting,
confusing, conflating ways,
using so much energy in FIGHTING the “falling apart,”
that we contribute--mightily--to this falling apart.
Because of this,
we can’t see the proverbial forest for the trees.
We can’t hear our own music.
We can’t MAKE our own music
or sing our song
as we want to.
We show up—barely.
Often, we’re able to show up for others
(or fool/convince ourselves into believing that we are).
But rarely for ourself.
It’s hard work for some of or maybe many of us
to NOT get pulled into a crevasse of despair, misery, giving in,
of letting go of the need to control.
Here’s what I’ve been experiencing:
I’ve been exploring avenues of all kinds to address pain that
has lingered on the edges of chronic
for a few years.
Back in December,
I asked myself a question that I so often ask you,
“What may I do to help?”
I paused.
And looked—as lovingly as I could—
into the mirror.
Repeatedly (because it’s a hard thing to do, right?!)
And asked.
And LISTENED to this body-mind-spirit.
Because when I got out of the way
to allow them to work together,
they gave me all kinds of information…
and I’m taking this information to heart.
Getting out of the way
involves trusting the body and what it says to me.
My goal is to listen to its whispers
so that it doesn’t have to yell,
but, in fact,
we were at the yelling stage.
“Getting out of the way”
is damned inconvenient
to one who has lived
“managing” disappointments, heartbreaks, heartache,
loss…
by diving into SOMEthing instead of leaning back
and pausing
to let grief or upset or knowing
have its moment.
There comes a time when we feel the nudge
and we not only notice that something is awry,
we acknowledge it instead of pushing it away.
I had beautiful things planned for us late last year into now.
And yet…
“Things” seemed to fall apart.
If it wasn’t X, it was Y.
SOMEthing was just not working well
Honest moment.
Tears are truth.
ME.
It was ME who was broken into puzzle pieces
and those pieces were strewn all around me.
The image they were supposed to create was so far out of focus
as to be unseeable
and while that is ok…
I wasn’t letting it be ok.
I was forcing,
scrambling to make it all be ok
the way it USED TO BE,
the way I used to be,
the way I was INSISTING...
And so…false starts…
“31 Days of 31 Ways” was scheduled and then put on hold.
I never made my coaching schedule available except to a very few.
I stopped writing my next book.
I wondered about my teaching,
my coaching,
my guiding retreats.
I lost my connection with my current and next future selves.
That is, I stopped talking with them.
And just kept fighting the currents,
trying to make the currents
based on...
What?
I didn't know.
I was flailing.
So..
I am resetting.
And I answered the same questions that I’m asking you in this questionnaire.
I hope you’ll take a moment
to get thoughtful with yourself.
And I hope you’ll grant yourself some time to complete the questionnaire
and then join me live for a restorative yoga session.
I miss sharing restorative yoga live.
It is a gift beyond restoring.
It is a gift of releasing yourself from the protective layers--a teeny, tiny bit at a time--
(physical, mental, emotional, spiritual)
formed throughout
your lifetime
so that you can feel ease,
serenity,
and joy
which allow you access to energy and focus that
you didn’t know was possible.
Pressing pause through a restorative yoga session
(whether it’s 20 minutes or an hour)
grants you the grace of selfcare at the same time that it opens the portal
to allowing yourself to receive care from me and then beyond me.
Both are critical to your well-being.
The rest that you experience in a restorative yoga session
is radical. And can inform the entire rest of your life. Truly.
And in the teeniest, tiniest ways.
In our crazy, wildly mobile world,
this gentle and soothing moment feels like a miracle.
In my newly found militance,
I would even add that rest is a radical nose-thumbing at the society
that has taught us
that we are only worth what we produce.
” ^&%*&^&^%O%^&%% “
WE ARE THE CONTRIBUTION WE ARE HERE TO MAKE IN THIS WORLD. (Jacqueline Gates)
So with all of this rumbling around in me,
I offer that we are in this together.
And that this most recent questionnaire that I’m asking you to complete
is for both of us.
It’s a way for you to look lovingly into the mirror
and into your heart
for YOUR answers.
Be as long or as short as it takes for you to sweetly and thoughtfully
express yourself.
Embrace yourself just as you are…my Beautiful One.
So…please complete the questionnaire by Sunday March 23
and please join me for a rejuvenating, soothing, calming,
loving pause of restorative yoga on Monday March 24 at either 9 a.m. or 6 pm.
“It’s not the weight you carry
but how you carry it—
books, bricks, grief—
it’s all in the way
you embrace it, balance it, carry it
when you cannot, and would not,
put it down.”
~ Mary Oliver
Let’s allow ourselves to carry ourselves and each other.
Blessings Always,
Paula.
