Finding stillness and quiet in the vibrating energy of life is my latest pursuit. A few days ago, feeling hopelessly at the mercy of my persistent left arm pain, I set an intention to turn seriously into my yoga and meditation to heal. I remember my unfinished attempt at the bible of Stillness, the Eric Schiffman book, and have been lost and found in his poetic and simple prose in his book Moving into Stillness. Acting on that inspiration, I am starting a project for Prolific Living with the new Yoga Series Videos.
Theme of the Yoga Flow Series #1: To welcome the beauty of fall and to start healing and recuperating with home practice.
If you are on a mobile device, watch this video on my YouTube Channel here.
The purpose of the yoga series videos is to inspire myself and my readers to establish a devotion to our home practice, and to find meaning and lessons in each practice, be it 5 minutes or an hour. In each yoga video series, I will share an aspect of yoga practice, and search and surely find lessons that each session teaches me in the silence and stillness.
*I love Brilliant Yoga!*
The 3 Lessons from Yoga Flow Series #1:
- The beauty of the Utterly Unplanned things in life: This flow was not intended for any viewing beyond my own. I was testing my brand new Canon VIXIA video camera to find the best position and angle for the tripod. I could not get it to cover my standing poses so I opted for seated positions. I had no poses in mind, no flow planned, no time in mind. After viewing it, I liked it and decided to do a new series the next day with a full schedule and sequence of poses. The next day just did not happen. And I realized in this short clip, I was doing yoga straight from the heart, full of intention and free of any judgment or expectations, letting go of all the perfection because it was a test video. That is the spirit I wanted to capture and it happened in the unplanned.
- Letting go of Perfection: This comes hard to me. Very hard. Even if I never reach perfection in anything, I obsess and pursue it relentlessly. There is no perfection in any of these poses. There are errors. There is struggle. There is room to improve. I am letting go of my obsession by purposely sharing this video and not one that I focus hard on perfection of the pose. I like to see that I could have been more open here, folded more deeply there, and transitioned more gracefully from one to another pose. I am celebrating the progress toward excellence, and letting go of perfection.
- Believing in the power of yoga for healing: Persistent physical pain can try any one’s patience, and mine is not particularly deep. My left arm has been in enormous pain for weeks and weeks. No permanent relief from any of the therapies, and yet I am grateful that with all the pain, my arm seems to love and do fine with yoga. So I am turning to yoga, to the ideal posture, the open heart and shoulders, the broad collar bone, the relaxed upper body, and the strong abs to find healing. I am persistent, and I will find it. This home practice was a start and I firmly believe in the healing powers of yoga.
Parting Inspiration: Practice yoga for you, be in harmony and unison with your flow, your breath, your poses, and look for your stillness til you find it.
And now, if you did the flow with me, what did the practice do for you? Share your thoughts!
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{ 6 brilliant comments, Care to add another? }
Hi Farnoosh!
Thanks so much for stopping by and getting your copy of 28 Desserts You Can Eat Every Day, your comment warmed my heart!
I can totally relate to your tough filming issues. Whenever I try to plan things out too much (videos are the same for me!) then it’s not from the heart, and it’s hard to get it out. Other times it just flows.
Very inspiring post and video!
Glad you like the video, and so good to know others can relate. I think I need to hire a videographer next
! (And I can’t wait to make the desserts – or rather, have my hubby make them for me!)
Great blog Farnoosh.
Cheers!
Many thanks, Andre!
There is no perfection in this physical world. Everything is in state of decay. Everything that is born, dies. But what you are has no beginning and no end. You were perfect, are perfect and will always be perfect and nothing can change that.
Chuck, that’s very deep philosophy. Thank you so much for the kind words toward the video.
{ 7 brilliant comments, Care to add another? }