Breathe Into It

My Yoga Therapy Immersion was a profound transformational experience for me.

One lesson that has really been standing out, is that opening up to discomfort is the basis of transmuting our shit.

Everything good thing in my life that has ever ‘happened’ to me, has first made me extremely uncomfortable. From my personal life to my business endeavors, in every experience, when I am the most uncomfortable that’s where all the magic happens.

Some examples: having two natural home births, entering into my second year of graduate school with a newborn baby strapped to my chest, PARENTING, public speaking, breastfeeding,  launching my business, and even starting this blog and putting myself out there on the internet….

A lot of those times represent some real discomfort; physically and mentally.

Ultimately though, the more I was out of my comfort zone the more dramatic the growth I experienced was.

“Don’t limit your challenges; challenge your limits.”

Comfort comes in the form of familiarity. But I am here to let you know, New Experiences= New Opportunities. And a whole lot of growth.

Life patiently and continually presents us with opportunities for learning. We often fall into the trap of believing that we need to overcome the problem, but life is not meant to be solved. Things come together and fall apart again and again like waves in the ocean.

Healing, hope, and strength come from allowing ourselves to be with the now. By allowing ourselves to lean into what is. By growing our capacity to be human.

So embrace discomfort. Look forward to it. Just like there is no light without darkness; there is no growth with out pain.

Breathe into the pain. Take a big breath and go into it, inside it. Immerse—because by doing so, the pain releases from within.

“Pain is beauty and there is beauty in everything” -Alessia Cara

Try it:  Challenge yourself this week to do one thing you have had resistance to because you feel too uncomfortable. When you feel like its all too much, I want you to just use your breath to hang out with it, and notice what happens when you stay present.

Just lean into your discomfort – in the privacy of your own mind. Allow the natural impulse of your brain – to organize at greater and greater levels of complexity and integration – to do the work. By intentionally and mindfully leaning into your discomfort, you stimulate your brain in ways that develop greater flexibility and open avenues for greater behavioral choices.

Remember, the idea is to lean into your discomfort. Not to radically transform yourself overnight. Learning doesn’t happen that way. You build mastery incrementally. You transform your life, breath by breath. By leaning into your discomfort not by leaping over it.

“Something hurts, lean in. You just lean into that point until it loses its power over you. There’s a certain amount of suffering that you have to be willing to sustain if you want to have a good life. And the real trick is to be able to sustain it with your heart open and still be loving.” – Will Smith

Mantra: I resist nothing, instead I lean into all life’s experiences.

With a Grateful Heart,