This is another fill in the blank sentence that is new to my world and I’m grateful for it in both my yoga practice and in my daily life in Lakewood, CO. I love it because every moment is constantly changing. For me this can often be a good thing because if I am present to the experience of something “bad” then I can be hopeful that that could be different at the next time I fill the blank in. I am present to the experience of fatigue. I am present to the experience of joy. I am present to the experience of anticipation. I’m learning to work this sentence in conjunction to another new one to me, “I create myself as….” I create myself as an authentic human being. I create myself as love. I create myself as creative and intelligent. I like the two together because you get to acknowledge how your currently feeling without shoving it into a dark closet to come out in a big surprise later in the day, the week, month, life. Yet the “I create myself as…” doesn’t leave you stuck and it opens you up to all sorts of possibilities! “Right now I’m present to the experience of missing my husband (he lives in Beijing, China). I create myself as a strong and patient woman excited about seeing him sooner than later! Some examples from my last week: Right now I am present to the experience of fear of failure. I create myself as a courageous and creative business woman. Right now I am present to the experience of an insane craving for chocolate. I create myself as a calm and loving woman with or without chocolate! Right now I am present to the experience of frustration at the “mean” lady at the park who yelled at me about the dogs playing. I create myself as a compassionate person who recognizes that we all have things we are working through. *It would have been a way better scenario with the woman if, instead of me being defensive behind a passive aggressive smile and walking home with the dogs on the verge of tears, I had asked the lady about her day and maybe even what her need to stop her car to take my picture with my dogs off lease was really about.
**Or I could have remembered in that moment as Mollie, of www.twosticksandaboard.com, reminded me later, “You just happened to bump into her journey she is struggling through. Let go-” ***or maybe the lady just wanted me to have my dogs on leash because it is the rule. And I truly simply need to let go of my defensiveness. At the training I went to last week, I learned all sorts of useful tools like this, in addition to lots of yoga, that I plan to bring more readily in my life and into our Lakewood, CO yoga community! As they continue to bring meaning to my life I will share them.
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My life motto is “To always move and to share movement with others.” For most of my adult life I’ve fulfilled that statement primarily thru teaching dance and some yoga. This year is huge for me as I’ve made the shift to primarily yoga and a bit of dance. With that shift has come a new level of learning and discovery that has been invigorating! A Sannyasin is a “seeker of truth” and I’ve spent the last week finishing up my Level 2 Teacher Training with the Baptiste Yoga Institute that has raised my vibration from a trying to keep it together new business owner/yoga teacher to a more open and authentic human being that can’t wait to get home and share what I’ve learned with my students! Aaaaand I’ve made some incredible new friends on the journey!
Pain is Inevitable. Suffering is optional. Talk about a bold statement! In the midst of being a budding new entrepreneur, my schedule is jaaaaaam packed with all sorts of things that were not necessarily obvious going in: Like the amount of time it takes to maintain a website, market, keep track of all of the money that seems to be bleeding profusely from my bank account, network, update social media, OH- and teach yoga- the whole point of the business! Experienced friends and entrepreneurs said to me early on, “Make sure you give yourself days off.” I thought to myself, “Okay, no problem…. sounds good.” Now I kindof giggle when I think about a day off. I don’t think I could do it: 1- because there is so much to do. and 2- because I am passionately wanting to do everything possible to get this business up and off the ground A.S.A.P! But, I did kinda sorta give myself a couple of hours here and there off. I go to the climbing gym on Tues/Thurs mornings from 6:30-8:30 and I go to my favorite yoga teacher’s class (Dave Farmar- Baptiste Yoga certified) on Monday nights 5:15-6:30. This last Monday, Dave walked into the super hot studio with about 30 of us yogis and right away told us that this passed weekend a dear friend of his had passed and the phrase that he had been working with was a phrase he learned from his teacher, “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” That was the theme of the class (from my perspective), as we moved from posture to posture sometimes shaking and definitely sweating insanely.
I know that so many people, including some very dear friends and family members in my life, are faced with unimaginable physical pain on a a daily basis that my busy schedule and moderate physical challenges pail in comparison. So I am by no means preaching to anyone. I have been and still am simply pondering this idea that “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” and curious about how it could grace my everyday when a challenge comes up. I am open to the possibility of being able to acknowledge what it is I am feeling in a given moment, while moving forward toward the joy that is possible in the next present moment. “I’m open to the possibility of waking up in the morning at 4:35 AM with energy and joy.” “I’m open to the possibility of recieving information I need to hear today with grace and joy.” “I’m open to the possibility of moving through this day with plenty of energy, grace and joy.” “Hi Stephanie, I am currently sitting in stand-still traffic on the east side of Loveland Pass. I am open to the possibility of still being there on time.” Container Collective Yoga/me/Brittany Hopkins has officially been in business 2 months now. That means we are beyond stage one- Startup (website, business cards, etc.). And officially in stage two- Survival (more money going out than is coming in and I am working at all times). In the midst of all of the tenacious working, I was able to go to the Northwest Colorado Women’s Small Business Conference and loved every information-filled moment of it thanks to the phrase I’ve been practicing using over the years since my Level 1 Baptiste Yoga Teacher Training. “I am open to the possibility of….” There were tons of breakout sessions to choose from at the conference. The ones I’m so grateful I attended were: -5 Steps to Crafting a Billion Dollar Marketing Message | Gerry O’Brion -Fuel Effieienct Search Engine Optimization | Kristy Lee Gogolen, LK Creative Design -Straight Talk to Boost Your Bottom Line |Sylvia Theisen, She Takes the Lead -Women and the Art of Negotiation | Janesse Brewer, 23.4 Degrees -Creating Your Roadmap to Success | Julia Gentry, Crankset Group It’s only been two days since the conference and I’ve regurgitated all of the information I learned to atleast 5 unsuspecting individuals. I’m to the point that I can now tell you, from memory, the 7 stages of business, where I’m at, and where I’m going to be in 3-5 years! When I’m excited about something- I can’t help but tell everyone! And in this moment, I’m excited about the fact that all of the possibilities “I was open to” that day…happened! -Even though I didn’t fall asleep until around 12 AM the night before. I did wake up with energy and joy the next morning at 4:35 AM! -Even though there was about 12 boat loads of useful information shared at the conference. I chose appropriate breakout sessions for me that gave me a completely attainable “to-do” list! -There were several cups of tea (in my favorite Contigo travel mug) throughout the day, but I never crashed! In fact I didn’t even get home until after 11 PM because that night, after the conference, I able to joyfully see/hear the Hot Sardines (New Orleans style jazz band) play at the Newman Center with a new friend! -And the silliest and coolest possibility that happen was that approximately 1 minute after I sent the text message about being in traffic yet still being open to the possibility of being on time…. Traffic opened up! And I didn’t miss the pre-show dinner date with Stephanie! What are you open to the possibility of right now, later today, or in life???
I’ve had the hilarious and fun opportunity to volunteer in a pre-school classroom teaching kids yoga every Wednesday. In my 16 years of teaching movement I’ve taught just about every age of person. New-est to my resume are 3 year old girls. Wow- It’s a whole new world!My first week, I didn’t even know what age I was going to be teaching and it was a bit of nightmare (not really- but it was super wild!) I had some cards with pictures of yoga poses on them and we did poses like cat/cow where we meow-ed and mooo-ed while we arched and contracted our spines. We reached for the stars and tickled our toes! Sounds not so bad, right?!?! I laughed when the lead teacher of the classroom came over that first day and asked if I wanted to take the time down from 30 minutes to 20. Praise The Lord! Hahaha!I quickly learned that I needed to bring in some yoga mats so the little ones had parameters for where they should be during our practice! I also learned that there needed to be way more specific story-like and age appropriate lesson plans. My favorite thus far revolves around the precious little story book that I downloaded to my ipad: FairyLand Yoga by Antonia Pellegrino-Freeman! It is super sweet and fun to ask the little girls if they would like to go to Fairyland to do yoga and have them respond “YEEEEESSSSS!” as I put a dot of glitter on their little noses and ask them to close their eyes as we travel to the land of Yogi Fairies! With that more focused lesson, things go a little smoother, although they still feel a little crowded and don’t necessarily like to sit next to Suzie-Q. :)I always leave the classes feeling giggly and happy as I roll my yoga wagon down the school hallway and hope the classroom teacher isn’t too upset about the use of glitter to get us to FairyLand and back!
Container Collective Yoga Owner/Teacher, Brittany Hopkins, was asked to lead two 30 minute yoga sessions for Family Fitness Night at Gilpin Elementary in Denver on Thursday, October 2nd, 2014. There were around 65 kids, parents, and grandparents meowing and mooing in cat/cow pose, hissing in cobra pose, and ruff ruffing in downward facing dog pose!
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