I felt compelled to share a little story with you today around compassion and what it looks like to practice it as a yoga practice off the mat…
If you’ve been following me, you know that I have been teaching for many years but only recently choose to branch into the online world. I am learning a ton as I go. I make many mistakes, and I have to continuously practice being alright with my imperfections. This is one way I practice compassion, however this is a very recent story I’d like to share with you today.
I finally have my camera, my microphone and time to record content. I set up my space, I set up my camera and I pull a Goddess Oracle Card to inspire my teachings. (Kwan Yin, Goddess of Compassion). Immediately I am inspired to teach heart openers and provide visualizations to harness compassion within ones self.
My first challenge is getting my head in frame (while standing) with limited space for my camera. I cannot do it, so I go with the flow and tell my viewers I’m working out the kinks and to bare with me. I continue to teach a Yoga Flow even when my head isn’t seen, after all, the intention is compassion. I have compassion for the situation and just allow the the practice to flow through me. Twenty five minutes in, my camera shuts off. I could continue to start where I left off but I wanted it to flow freely and not have to cut and paste during editing. I took a break and recollected. Then I thought, I could teach a Yin class instead, that way I wouldn’t have to worry about not having my head in the frame. I started again but this time I plugged my camera in to avoid any battery fail. I re-centered myself and applied Kuan Yin’s intention of Compassion to a new practice.
It went beautifully! I let the lesson flow through me. I talked about getting present with how you treat yourself when making a mistake and too embrace yourself as you would a child, along with how you treat others when making mistakes and embracing them as you would a child. I guided the viewer to wrap themselves up with love and compassion and how to soften in the body and energy space to let go of tension and bring in love. When it was over, I felt really good about it and I felt good within my self because I had practiced. I turned off the camera and loaded the video onto my computer and low and behold…. There was NO SOUND. I forgot to turn on the microphone!
My immediate response what F$%#*! Then I started to laugh hysterically. “How perfect”, I thought. I just got done with leading a practice about compassion for oneself and the mistakes we make and here I am after three hours of work to record one lesson that I can’t even use because I forgot to turn on the mic. The universe works in mysterious ways.
Why am I sharing this with you? Because, the practice never ends. Yoga is a real life practice. It was as if the Universe was saying, “Love, you are very ambitious but you still have some learning to do. I’m going to give you some challenges that teach you but it’s through your practice you will hear them”. I mean how can I teach for an hour about compassion and embracing your mistakes as you would a child and then be hard on myself for not turning on a mic?! LOL
So, in all due time, but for now I laugh at the irony and allow myself to slow down, or at least be gentle with myself when things aren’t going according to plan. We are guided with the lessons on our mat, but they aren’t integrated until we apply them to real life situations.
When was the last time you were challenged off your mat and used your yoga practice to help you through it? Share your story with us in the comments below!