The beautiful thing about practicing daily is that you begin to see the effort just melt away, much like practicing mindfulness in sticky situations. Compassion for yourself that soon will spill over to others is key. If stillness and breath are quite doing it (yet) then I also recommend sitting in gratitude. Look around at the traffic, isn’t it amazing that someone invented a machine that can quickly and safely get us to where we want to go? Isn’t it remarkable that we have these bodies that perfectly and effortlessly breath fresh air, and we don’t have to do anything in order to maintain this life force? Isn’t it incredible that this magnificent star overhead radiates it’s incredible light for us to enjoy?
Gratitude is another gateway to experiencing peace and contentment. We humans need these tools because a lot of our thoughts and impulses are subconscious and reactions from when we were helpless babes. So it’s up to us to practice deprogramming our emphatic nervous system from when we couldn’t fend or speak up for ourselves. These techniques were used for survival at age five, but now let’s let go of the need to be right, to be angry, to be first, and open our hearts to kindness, to breath and to being. I invite you to practice yoga, to practice mindfulness and to watch how your life really can change from the inside out!