Giving and receiving... or where I will be this summer

Are you a giver or are you better at receiving?

The flow of life works best when both things exist, don't you think? But each of us is probably better at one thing than the other.

At one point in my life I did a fair amount of yoga. In fact, I'd say that yoga set me on a path of self-exploration that has made me the happy goofball I am today... and allowed me to find success in my business and my personal life.

Then about a decade ago, I stopped.

I lived in various places in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado--all small towns, all without a yoga teacher I connected with. There were times where I tried. For a few months I drove an hour and a half to a spiritual community who had a wonderful Ashtanga teacher. But the drive was too much and I stopped. When we moved to Santa Fe, I did find a yoga studio with a couple teachers I really liked. But I let my head convince me I was too busy for the time it takes to connect with things that are real. I had a business to start.

Last month I found a small studio in Fort Collins which seemed right. The names of the classes don't contain the words hot, power, or core. The teacher is young and in training and the studio is in the basement of a public space that is noisy. But it doesn't matter. I can feel myself getting stronger again and more importantly, listening to my own intuition.

Today Krista talked about giving and receiving. I find in yoga classes that often what I am learning with my body connects immediately and strongly with my life.

I am certainly on the giving end of the spectrum.
I'd far rather make sure everyone around me was happy and taken care of than admit that I need to feed myself in important ways to be able to keep giving. This is not a healthy way to live. (At the most basic, I can't possibly please everyone.)

When I was an occupational therapist, it was all about giving. But I had a network of co-workers and family who were medical people and who could provide the support a medical professional needs to continue to help people in need. Now that I am self-employed, it is so easy to work all the time. I have to learn to create my own structure for receiving the quiet joy that allows me to give to others.

This is not easy for someone who is a little bit type-A obsessive about meeting all obligations and making everyone happy as much of the time as possible.

Perhaps you see where I'm going with this.

Tomorrow I'll be releasing my new schedule of classes with some exciting information about your access to the material once you register. Along with that comes an exception.

Update 4/27/15: Unfortunately, my hike as described below has been cancelled. We will be going backpacking, but not for this long stretch. I will be available to answer questions all summer. If I am off on a trail somewhere for a few days, I'll notify the classes and make the time up by answering questions on a weekend.

I will be taking a 4-5 week hike this summer from Denver to Durango along the Colorado Trail again. I'm excited to see a couple new routes finished since the last time I did it. I originally was not going to run any online classes this summer because I won't be available for a time to answer questions. But I had so many requests for classes, that I decided to offer another set of the beginning tapestry techniques course starting in May.

I will be out hiking for about a month. The trip will start sometime in late June depending on the what the snowpack does in Colorado in March and April. And though I won't be present for your tapestry questions for a bit, you can follow my hike here on the blog. I'm bringing a Hokett loom and a camera. And I'll be back soon undoubtedly with some good stories.

Hiking long trails is yoga. Your brain stops worrying after a few days and your body learns a whole lot about strength, pain, and not giving up. It is centering and it always teaches me to keep my head up and notice what is happening around me. If I learn the lesson well, I can bring it home to the rest of my life.