Practice Off The Mat

Vol. 1 Issue 2

Recently I was staring at my computer about to craft an email. I needed some help with some things that I was working on. Everything that I had tried so far had fallen short. I felt frustrated. 

I sat in my chair watching as the big feelings swirled around me. Then the random playlist I was listening to fell on the song “Hula Hoop to the Loop” by Keller Williams.

Keller Williams is one of my favorite musicians – talented, creative, innovative, funny. This song is typical of Keller’s style. It has a sweet groove, whimsical lyrics. It's light hearted music to dance to!
Closing my eyes and feeling the “home-office-dance-party” mode start to activate, his lyrics suddenly sounded like a thunderclap in my brain:

““I find my groove.
I spin around, go up and down.
It’s okay if it falls on the ground.
Just pick it up and try again.
The hula hoop is my friend!”

— Keller Williams

The universe is funny sometimes in how it reminds you of your practice.
Think about what you balance every day. Family, friends, work, responsibilities, tasks, pets, hobbies, fun, dreams, etc. Imagine one of those things as a single hula hoop.

You are trying to make it move around your hips as you sway back and forth. Sometimes you feel strong and coordinated! The hula hoop is moving fast! Other times, you feel awkward and uneven and the hula hoop is wobbly. Other times you have nothing, and it falls.
 

Now keep adding more hula hoops. You add a hoop to an arm. To your legs. To your torso. And then add even more! Now you are moving in every direction! It is total chaos with hoops moving in every direction! You bash yourself in the face with one hoop. One flies off an arm and smashes into a window. They all come crashing down.

Left with the hula hoops on the ground you feel frustrated and angry. At some point kicking the hula hoops away in frustration. And then, maybe, you choose to start again. One at a time, get things going again. As the saying goes – lather, rinse, repeat.

The practice of yoga and mindfulness reminds us how much life is exactly that – a practice. How many times have I said in yoga class “if you come out of the posture, its okay! You can choose to start again!” or during a meditation offering the gentle reminder “if your attention pulls away – it’s okay! Take a breath and start again!”

Clearly, I needed to be reminded of this myself.

All of the things that you juggle – errrr hula hoop - will have their cycles. Sometimes you’ll be in the pocket, feeling the groove everything going great. And then sometimes the hula hoops crash around you. It is for when these crashing moments arrive. That is why we practice on the mat and on the cushion. The practice helps us to navigate life with more ease, grace, and skillful intention.

All these hula hoops – these are the things you are building in your life. And like the hula hoop, these things that we build our life with, they are your friend.

Sending you warm wishes of love, grace, and ease. 

Chris