To Practice

Meditation isn’t the absence of thought. You aren’t failing if you aren’t still. Meditation is the practice of returning to focus. Learning to deal with noise. Letting thoughts flow through you without fighting them. You can do that, in part, by returning to five simple points. Proper exercise, breathing, diet, relaxation, and mental health. I have been doing Yoga for 13 years, and much of that time has not been in the traditional “yoga class" sense. I did do two one-month-long teacher training courses which were amazing and protected (a real opportunity to completely focus on my own health), but reality is more challenging. My yoga now mainly consists of rocking my daughter to sleep, or walking with her in the local forest. Finding 90 minutes to bend and stretch is more challenging. My yoga practice now includes detaching from daily investment price moves! From not seeing work challenges as Trevor challenges. From believing that the problem is the problem. Taking a breath and nudging away at a solution. Yoga comes in many forms. The form I choose is via Saraswati (Learning and Creativity). Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of “Flow”. Engaging in ways that are challenging enough to grab my attention (not bored), but not so far beyond my skill level to create anxiety and worry. Still I dip into worry, and anxiety, and my practice has to be to constantly come out of that. To gain comfort with discomfort. To practice.

A Hamsa (Swan) sits at Saraswati's feet