There is something about the thought of doing my tax returns that makes me anxious and tense. Overall,my taxes are pretty painless, so I am not sure why I have overwhelming feelings about them. After an hour of working on them today I decided I needed a relaxing yoga class to unwind myself a bit.
My friend Sangeeta and I decided on a vinyasa flow class at Karma Yoga in Washington Park. It was my first time having Robin instruct and boy, did she take my breath away (literally and figuratively). Her class was physically challenging, which is always welcome and the mentally challenging piece was a great surprise. She started out having us do a quick sort of meditation and talked us through the importance of erradicating negative thoughts. Since this is comparable to what I help my clients with, I was all ears. She simply said that we have to work hard to rid ourselves of negative thoughts. If you continue to suppress them, they will always be there- even if they hide for a bit, they’ll find their way back. I chose my most consistent negative thought and devoted my practice to nurturing it.
At the end of practice my body and mind felt tired yet rejuvenated. The class was a great reminder of how important thought work can be in everyday life. I will continue to work on my negative thoughts until they’re all blasted to pieces and sent far away from me. Until then, my coaching self is always looking for more ways to work on these. Fill me in! How do you tackle your negative feelings and painful thoughts? What works/what doesn’t? Let a sista’ know…
365 Days, 365 Workouts 