Three Things to Do When You’re Knocked Off Your Feet

If you have 3 minutes for a laugh, enjoy!  If not, read on! (It ties in.  Really).

Yesterday my husband had a hard conversation that left him feeling blind-sided.  Kind of like Peyton Manning getting sacked in the Super Bowl yesterday.  It was an unexpected blow and hard to absorb.  It left John, who is always steady, knocked off his feet like one of the guys slipping on that video.  For a moment he was sprawled on the ground wondering “What just happened?”

It doesn’t matter the particulars of John’s surprise. It could be like anything in your life:

• a pink slip from your boss
• a conversation that blind-sides you
• a hard diagnosis
• a break up
• a bad grade after you studied hard

What do you do when it feels like you’ve been jogging along and all of a sudden you hit an icy patch and go toes over teakettle?

Notice What You Notice

This is Maggie, our delightful, 25 year old who just got married and is preparing to move from D.C. cross-country with her husband to start grad school at Berkeley.  

One of her mentors, Brooke Toftoy, introduced our church to Holy Yoga which is “experiential worship created to deepen people’s connection to Christ.”  Maggie loves Yoga, so the morning before her wedding she asked Brooke to lead the bridesmaids in this practice.  Although there’s only “regular” yoga in D.C she still loves it. I asked Maggie to guest post today, because although I may be biased, I think she’s amazing!

One of my favorite yoga instructors invites us into an interesting practice.  Every so often, throughout the class, he will invite us into a resting position and ask us to “return to your breath, be still and notice.  Notice what you notice.”

“Notice what you notice,” he says.  So I lay there and I notice.  First I notice that the “resting pose” that he has instructed us to find is awfully pretzely and I want to have a few words with whoever dubbed it a “resting pose.”  I notice how sweaty I am.  I notice that it’s hot day and that in 24 minutes when class is over, it would be a good time for some froyo (I’ve obviously earned it, what with the sweat and the pretzel-y-ness.)

When I’m done mentally complaining, I start the practice of really noticing.  I notice that I feel pretty calm.  I notice that I’m really improving in that one difficult pose, and that makes me feel strong and accomplished.  I notice that this is the one quiet spot in my day and I soak it in.

Outside of yoga class, in regular old life,  I sometimes like to remind myself to notice what I notice.  I like being observant and tuning in.