To Plan or Not to Plan
To Plan or Not To Plan
By Laura Mills
This Labor Day weekend I tested the effects of spontaneity on stress. I usually plan my days in great detail, sometimes an entire week in advance, believing for some unproven reason that planning keeps me organized. My extra-calm husband, Jamie, has long encouraged me to schedule less and flow more; when we discussed this particular weekend’s agenda, he suggested we “just see” what happened.
I awoke Saturday morning already jittery. My first thought was, “I have to do laundry, and I can’t forget to buy cat litter.” But Jamie suggested the 7:45 yoga class first thing, so we left behind laundry piles and litter boxes and set out. We followed yoga with an on-a-whim breakfast stop, then kayaked on a local lake. Sometime during the day I did throw in laundry and stop at the pet store, but by dinnertime (for which we decided to order pizza and save the intended grilling for Sunday) I hardly remembered a Saturday that I had enjoyed so much. And by the end of the weekend—the rest of which we passed the same way—we had finished the really necessary chores anyway, virtually stress-free.
Planning surely has its place, and I’m far from ready to abandon planning and start flowing freely every day. But this weekend I reminded myself that shuffling my to-do list need not be an obstacle. On the contrary, occasional spontaneity, moments when I agree to “just see” what happens, might wind up the best moments of any given day, the moments really worth remembering.
DOES WORK INTERFERE WITH YOUR YOGA?
Dear Beautiful Friends,
Why is it so hard to get to yoga class this Fall? No really I'm asking... I've had a harder time than ever building a routine, a regular yoga schedule for myself.
Every day has been so different and unexpected. And if I was really honest with myself the real culprit to consistently getting to group classes is staying at the computer (aka work). Now I had a great summer yoga schedule, really I did! But now? It is all over the board. And doing two classes in one day is no replacement for spreading those out in different days.
Making ourselves a priority is the Yoga of real life. And as a real person first thing I recognize is how much I need yoga. We all need yoga. And the beauty is that it is a practice, we do what we can in any given class and there are never any pre-requisites to be met. Yoga loves us unconditionally. So fire up your Yoga, get the calendar out and make yourself some "yoga dates" and as always I am happy to be your yoga buddy. Invite me along to take a class and I'll be there because I'm first and foremost a student. And if you go I'll go. Heck even Oprah talks about having workout buddies. So why not have a Spiritual Workout Buddy?
Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia
PS. And I love learning from all our teachers at TBY!
STRETCH YOUR HOTNESS
JULY 25, 2010:
Super Duper Namaste! Great article in Women's Health caught my eye: "Bend to get more buff. In a study reported in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, volunteers followed a strength-training regimen three times a week, with half of them adding two stretching sessions to their routines. After eight weeks, the flexible group almost tripled their muscle strength. Stretching like lifting, causes tiny tears in your muscle; as your body repairs them, the tissue becomes stronger, says study coauthor Jason Winchester PhD, of George Mason University. Add 10 minutes of stretching to your routine today!"
Thought you'd like to know that. Flexibility makes us stronger! (AND MORE HOT!)
I am happily teaching all week then I am off in August to attend Vinyasa Teacher Training out West and enjoy a wedding of friends and take a holiday. Hope to see you all on the mat before I go! Big, big love and infinite Gratitude! Silvia
MY SCHEDULE JULY 25-30 Sunday: 7:45am Level 1-2; 9:15am Level 1; 4:30pm Level 1-2 Monday: 6:15pm Level 1-2 Tuesday: 9:15am Level 1-2 (subbing for Christine) and 6:15pm Basics Wednesday: 9:15am Level 1 and 6:15pm Level 1 Thursday: 10:45am Basics Friday: 9:15am Level 1-2
OFF IN AUGUST
THIS WEEKS THEMES INSPIRATIONS
Namaste beautiful friends on the path,
This week I am inspired to focus on lighting up our imagination! Focusing on how we can create images or visualizations for our life. Basically I'm talking about making time on the mat this week with me to delight in your Dreams and Fantasies! As Picasso is famous for saying: "ANYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE IS REAL."
My personal inspirations for this week came from a article by Sally Kempton, a dear friend traveling the world and a fellow yoga teacher in Chicagoland along with humble bows always to the first dreamer I knew, My father. Love to you and see you on the mat! (When I teach is below)
Monday 6:15pm and 7:30pm
Tuesday 6:15pm and 7:30pm
Wednesday 9:15am and 6:15pm
Thursday 10:45am and 7:30pm
Friday 9:15am and 6pm
Saturday 9:15am
Sunday 7:45am, 9:15am and 4:30pm