Yoga
for the Attitude
“You
may occasionally experience brief moments of absolute stillness and peace,
feeling yourself at home in your body and at home in your breath, in the safe
harbor of your deepest self.”
Jane
Trechsel (Morning Cup of Yoga, p.58, Crane Hill Publishers, 2002)
Jane
Trechsel has been teaching yoga in Birmingham as long as I have been here. She
is an extraordinary woman, who constantly finds ways to give back to a
community that loves her. Some of her gentle yoga positions—which once would
have been easy-peasy—are now quite difficult for me. That lets me know just how
much I need to do them. What I like as much as her stretches, are her meditations
and affirmations. I’m a believer in affirmations. They help me to state
intentions for each day, which may change my bad attitude over time. Here is a
sampling from her book:
“Today
I will practice generosity.
I
will notice my feelings and try to feel my feelings instead of shoving them
under.
I
will listen to other points of view, without trying to push my own agenda.
(I put three stars beside this one.)
Today
I will focus on the blessings in my life.”
Attitude
adjustments are a regular necessity for me. Are they for you, too? Sometimes, I
can get into a snit that rolls downhill like a snowball in January—merrily collecting
every piece of trash in its path. I dredge up grievances from every decade of
my life—even ones long forgotten until this moment. I’m sure you are better
wrapped than I am, though. For you, snits are a thing of the past. Right?
The Jungians
describe “snit-fits” as being “gripped by a complex.” This happens when some
incident in our present life trips a wire connected to something in our past—usually
something unpleasant, but not always. One day this week, I got into a snit-fit
over some criticism of my writing. A voice inside my head said, “How dare she. What
does she know about me and what I mean! Who does she think she is, anyway!” As
soon as that last part came out of my mouth (spoken only to my dog, Liza) I
recognized my mother’s voice saying to me, “Who do you think you are, young
lady!” My outrage was still connected to being criticized when I was a kid.
Complexes are autonomous—they
activate automatically and can absolutely ruin your day if you fail to
recognize them for who they are and show them the door. I wonder whether you have experienced this—being suddenly gripped by a bad mood that you don’t know the
origin of. It’s an interesting human characteristic. If you have the courage to
track it back, you may discover some part of yourself you thought you had lost.
Doing meditative
exercises like Yoga first thing in the morning is a good way of setting the attitude
you want to carry into the day. Affirmations of positivity and kindness, spoken
as your intentions, will go a long way toward putting you on the right foot.
Throughout the day, when you feel a complex sneaking up on you, remind yourself
of your affirmations. Here’s a good one: “I will respond lovingly when
others are upset.” That includes you, by the way.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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