MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL...

To mirror or not mirror? That is the question.

 My first official yoga class (17 years ago) was a bikram class. I remember looking into my own eyes as I balanced on one foot, felt sweat dripping down my face and realized the sound of my breath was the thing keeping me upright. It was a really powerful moment and dare I say, the moment I realized that yoga was my path.

I later evolved to a home practice and practiced in studios sans my own reflection. Some like the mirror and some think a mirror ruins your practice.

 But as I sit in the residue of an awesome class, the first time I’ve practiced in front of a mirror in years, I am (literally) reflecting on what the mirror just gave me.

I feel quiet, focused, and calm. I was able to pick up on some bad habits I have acquired by being able to see what I look like during my practice. I love looking into my own eyes as a tool to see something deeper. While I know this practice is so much more about how it feels vs. what it looks like, I can’t help but wonder: Are there some things we can only see from the outside in? How can a shift in perspective be a tool to self-reflection and not an impediment? In a day and age of “selfies” can we really use the mirror to truly see oneself? What are the benefits of looking at yourself while looking at your Self?

When the plant has weak roots, you take leaves off the top so that the energy grows downward and not upward.

When the plant isn’t drinking, you water around the roots instead of on the roots  so that the roots have to reach and work to get to the water. In essence, you challenge the plant’s roots to push outside it’s comfort zone. 

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately not just because I have been spending a lot of time with my plants, but also because I realized all the ways I have been “cutting the dead leaves”, “growing my roots” and realizing my own strength and resilience.

To say that we are a mind focused society would be an understatement. While the mind is a beautiful thing, sometimes life defies logic or problem solving. In these cases, quite literally we must redirect our energy from our heads to our bodies. From our outer world to our inner world. From the sky to the earth. This is where our roots come in handy. 

While I haven’t cut my hair in over a year, I see all the areas in my life I’ve made the very difficult and sometimes painful decisions to trim a bit of the dead ends that we’re wasting my precious energy. 

Taking off the dead ends of ones like is not about avoidance. Yes sometimes those leaves fall on their own. However, if you don’t first identify and acknowledge the hindrance to your growth, you may never know which leaf you’re meant to trim.

This is a reminder to look for the things that make you feel alive. Trim some of the fluff when necessary AND realize that your aliveness and growth may feel a bit like dying at first.