A Yin Approach to New Year

A Yin Approach to New Year

“We judge ourselves by our intentions but others by their actions.”

Image source http://www.livescience.com/32675-how-do-fireworks-get-their-colors.html

So the saying goes and yet each year we have the luxury of thinking about what we would like to improve about ourselves and then off we go and make our New Year resolutions/intentions. 
This post is a reflection on resolutions and why I no longer make them.  

What are New Year resolutions really all about?

In the past, like most people my resolutions have been about changing myself in some way or another. 

They generally fell into two main categories:

1) Something I wanted to stop doing

2) Something that I wanted to do but wasn't doing.

Example: get fitter, eat less (I love eating), spend more time with Marc, read more, be creative, garden more, start that book and so on.

This year I had the pleasure of completing Yin Yoga Teacher Training and this involved spending time learning and practising the art of yin - just being  - and witnessing and reflecting on the way my thought habits supported (or not) my happiness and inner peace. 

How to reconfigure resolutions in a new light?

Making changes to become more balanced and at ease in life is important. In all honesty, in the past I have stuck to some of the changes I have promised myself - shifting long held habits, moving into new uncomfortable places to grow and instigating new routines to support myself. In essence, a yang style approach tapping into my active, dynamic yang energies to make healthy shifts.

But what about the resolutions I haven't stuck to?
I do struggle with New Year's resolutions and have stopped making them.

 Summer is here, the days are long and I am on a break from work - everything seems possible and so the New Year Resolutions are cast into the swirl of the universe. Once back working, well, I think we all know what happens - yes we stick at activities for a while and then they drop away providing that little voice in the head an opportunity to come out to play and make comments about a lack of discipline and self love. Not helpful and certainly not nourishing to wonderful you.

Let's unpack!

When you have a good hard look at resolutions they are based on an assumption that in some way or another you are not good enough the way you are and that you should change. 

Where is this idea/assumption coming from? 

Us, our family, partner, friends, social media or marketing. 

Whose voice is whispering in your ear? 

An Alternative

My friend and I now use a guiding word or phrase to suggest a direction for our interactions with ourselves and the universe. This can be made anytime and can be adjusted to suit circumstances. The word or phrase is more about a vibration, feeling, or mood to live with. 

I am love.

 I am light. 

Relax.

Slow down.

Chill. 

Mine for this year is balance.

balance balance balance balance
balance balance balance balance

balance

Me out in the Australain bush

Yang is about being active, dynamic, moving, passionate and accomplishing big ideas and projects. Yin is about being still, quiet, allowing, relaxing into the present moment, accepting and experiencing the small acts of daily life with care and attention.

Balance connects with and acknowledges both the yin and yang aspects of life. Perfect! 
 
Balance is an art in itself for as we know from our yoga practice a balance requires constant tweaking, adjusting and modifying. It is not as if we get into a balance  and then hey presto we are there static and still. There is the more gross movement in the body as muscles switch on and other lengthen and relax, but also that beautiful, subtle oscillation of the breath moving from our centre out to the edges and back in again.

How to work with your guiding word or phrase?
 
Once you have your theme or feel then it is more about honesty asking yourself how to live with your chosen vibration. 

What can you accept, allow or just let it be about yourself?
 (Yes I know it is counterintutive and goes against all that that society/media tells us to do).

What is your vibration or feeling for 2016? 

love love love
peace peace peace
 
Margot XXX