Your yoga teacher says: “just change your gaze and practice getting unstuck in your life.”
Holy throwback, are we stuck as a society? After you read this email, you need to check on your Millennial friends - they are stuck.
20 years ago was obviously 1993, but the math doesn’t actually add up and it really bothers me.
When I use a calculator it says that 20 years ago is really like 40 years ago, and then I look around and see lots of things that remind me why I only think it’s 1993.
There’s Britney and Justin drama, there’s denim everything, ballet flats are still stinky but cute, David Beckham was and is well…David Beckham - okay okay you get what I’m saying.
In honor of November, and it being the month of gratitude I’m grateful for David Beck— woah woah woah, sorry about that.
But seriously, the nostalgia of things happens about every 20 years. Just recently, the retail store Urban Outfitters sold a first-generation iPod Mini from 2004 for $199 and a Fifth-Generation from 2007 for $349, which is MORE than the original brand-new price. That’s not a joke, that’s a real story. Because you probably forgot about iPods, just a reminder they don’t exist anymore and are out of production. Yup, we’re that old.
So, you’re asking yourself… “how the f*ck does this have to do with yoga?” I know exactly what you’re thinking - all yoga teachers do.
It’s easy to get stuck in nostalgia and the way things have always been and done. It’s easy to go “with the flow and let the good times roll.” It’s easy to buy bootcut denim, because you know it’s comfortable. It’s easy to do the same version of the same yoga pose each time…it’s easy to stay stuck.
It’s one thing to remind yourself of “The Good Ole Days” or “Baby One More Time by Britney Spears” but do you really want to stay stuck there?
Listen, I’m really proud and impressed that Maria Carey’s All I Want for Christmas hit the top 100 songs in December 2021, which was 25 years post-release, but honestly, we are all stuck listening to that amazing song that is seriously great, but like OMG 29 years of YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. (Ya sang it didn’t ya…knew you would - I’m a yoga teacher remember.)
Ask yourself where you’re stuck, where you’ve dug your heels down, where you refuse to give up your skinny jeans, where you’re too nostalgic to move on, ask yourself where you can make a new choice, take a new step, and create a new possibility.
Lastly, how to practice this in class… well let me tell ya - it’s simple. The easiest way to practice getting unstuck in class is to change your gaze. You don’t need to do handstand hops or a trick transition. Try focusing on something new, I’m guessing you tend to look at the same things or you tend to look in the same direction. Don’t be stuck, just move your eyeballs somewhere else.
We know plenty of you can roll them in a full circle after announcing it’s time for core work, so I know you are capable of potentially looking up instead of down.
This week create gratitude around new possibilities and also create gratitude for the things that paved the way for where you are, including that tragic time you plucked all your eyebrows off - oh the lesson you learned.
Get unstuck and start by practicing on your yoga mat.