A Little More on Inspiration

I sometimes get requests for the list of songs on my yoga playlists.  The music I use in my yoga practice is a big deal to me, and I invest an abundance of time and thought into my playlists.  Even if my students aren't listening to the words of the songs, I hope they realize that my goal in planning a playlist is to inspire their practice.  I pick songs with a satisfying tempo to inspire our bodies, and songs with meaningful words to inspire our minds and spirits.  Some songs are, of course, just for fun.  I mean, The Pina Colada Song doesn't really inspire anything besides cringes, right?

What makes music inspiring for our minds and spirits? Music can trigger a memory from youth or from a special day.  My yogis will often hear me say things like, "This takes me back to 7th grade at the roller skating rink," or "Any other children of the 90's remember this one?"  There are times when I have students who weren't even born when I reference a song from the 90s, and I'm certain they think I'm insane.  

Sometimes you find pieces of people you know in a song.  We all have moments where we hear a song and are immediately reminded of a friend or loved one.  Some memories are joyful and some are somber, but no matter what emotions spring forth we are grateful for what these people mean to us.  I have cried more than once in yoga class because of a certain song and how it relates to the struggles I'm having or the joys I'm experiencing.  

Plus, I love to sing along to music while I practice yoga.  Sorry, yogis.  

Starting with this post I will from time to time share some of my favorite yoga playlist songs.  Obviously, you can listen to music outside the yoga studio, so I hope these songs can help carry you and inspire you when you need a little joy.  

The first playlist I'm sharing is one centered around friendship and love.  Forming bonds with others can bring both joy and sorrow.  Grief is the price we pay for loving, but how terrible would it be if we never had anything worth losing or grieving?  

Trouble by Ray LaMontagne 

Song for a Friend by Andreya Triana (gosh, I've shed more tears over this song than I'd like to admit)

Never Quit Loving You by Jill Barber

Umbrella by Rihanna 

Rather Be by Clean Bandit 

What You Don't Do by Lianne La Havas

You Make Me Feel Good by Satin Jackets

Lean on Me by Bill Withers 

Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat

Your Song by Ellie Goulding 

You are the Best Thing by Ray LaMontagne (yeah, I kind of love his voice)

If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys

All of Me by Postmodern Jukebox

Just Breathe by Pearl Jam (seriously, if you can listen to the lyrics, "I'm a lucky man to count on both            hands the ones I love," and not be filled with boundless joy then you may not be a human                    being.)

Thank You by Dido

There are probably a hundred more songs I could add to this list, but this is a good start.  Have a song that inspires you?  Please share it with me!!  

 

You're the Inspiration

A friend mentioned a few months ago that, ahem, why am I not blogging?? My response was simple: I lost my inspiration.  And not just for writing.

Inspiration ebbs and flows in all of us.  Sometimes we are excited by new challenges in life, and sometimes we are overwhelmed by "adulting."  I'm constantly telling my yogis to find joy in every day, even in the mundane.  I've mastered finding folding laundry and washing dishes pleasant, but finding joy has been a bit more difficult.  I love baking and cooking, but I hate cleaning up afterwards.  Why cook or bake only to leave myself with piles of dirty dishes and a messy floor?  Ugh.

I've started teaching more yoga classes; I'm up to more than 10 per week on average.  I'm teaching little kids, which is new.  I'm teaching in different spaces, like onstage at a high school auditorium.  I've met new, interesting people with gripping life stories and hilarious personalities.  Yet, I've lost my own yoga practice.  I spend 10+ hours a week teaching yoga, and all teachers (no matter what you teach) know how much planning goes on behind he scenes for just one hour of class.  Plus, I have to travel to each class.  It's exhausting.

One of the reasons why I took on some extra classes was because my fellow yoga teacher RH delivered her daughter prematurely at 25 weeks this summer.  I took over two of her classes while at the same time losing one of the main "substitute" teachers I have in case I need a day off.  RH's baby girl thrived despite arriving early, and RH came back to work.  Here she is with me on her first day back in September.

A few weeks after RH came back to work, she got the news that her baby was ready to come home from the hospital!!  So, back I went teaching her classes for her while she was off being supermom.  I along with her students missed her but knew she was where she needed to be: home with her toddler and newborn.

About the same time RH was bringing her new baby home from the hospital I was also bringing my new baby home...only my new baby has four legs and fur.  His name is Archie.

Just a few weeks after bringing her baby home, RH was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer.

Yes, I said the same thing out loud that you just said in your head when you read that: What the fuck? This vibrant, easy going, beautiful new mom is about to have her life turned upside down.  Again.  Unlike pretty much everyone else who was filled with tears and expressions of sympathy, RH has henceforth decided to carry on each day with this attitude:

So, what is one to do when it feels like life is just a cycle of work, pay bills, die?  What is one to do when the fountain of inspiration has dried up because adulting is just too taxing and mundane?

Let's start here: October is breast cancer awareness month. I'll be damned if I'm not fully aware of breast cancer after having two very young, vibrant female friends diagnosed in 2015.  Of course being the person that I am I immediately start fighting imaginary battles of my own: got a cough this morning? Cancer.  My stomach hurts? Cancer.  Joints achy? Cancer.

But what would my friends fighting real battles say? Cancer? Cancer ain't got nothin' on them.  Cancer can attack their bodies; chemo can leave them tired and hurting and hairless.  I type these next words with all seriousness and admiration: when I look at these women I don't see the cancer hiding inside them.  I see their spirits cheering everyone on and saying, "Don't be sad for me! Be joyful with me!"

Excitement does not always come in the form of vacations or a new car or a new project at work.  Sometimes excitement comes as cancer. That saying, "same shit, different day" isn't necessarily a bad thing, right? That mundane life you have, those dishes you have to wash, that morning commute to work, those endless days of running kids around to practice...that should be where you find your inspiration.  Why expect inspiration to come knocking at your door?  You may not like what knocks.
PS: Fuck cancer.