Now is Where it's At


Hey there, how you doin’ now you live inside a full on science fiction movie? One that nobody would ever actually write because it’s just too implausible? You Ok? Deep breaths, it is going to be just fine…somehow.

There has never been a time to be more grateful for our health, our lives, our friends, our support system, whether that be your home, your breath, the ground beneath you.

What a time to embrace the present moment, openness, flexibility, trust, awareness, gratitude, relaxation etc etc etc. The list is inexhaustible.

I won’t lie, there have been nights where I’ve stupidly checked the news just before trying to sleep and consequently been sat upright in bed dancing round the edges of a panic attack. Anxiety like I haven’t felt in 8 years, tight chest, nausea, deep deep worry and fear. All I could possibly do was pull my knees into my chest, rock myself side to side, take long slow smooth breaths and mentally tell myself I was safe, that this will pass.

This is a very real time to employ all the exercises and tools we have at our disposal to generate strength, resilience, patience, trust and a sense of inner peace, and if we don’t currently have any, what a time to begin learning some. 

What a time to find out who we really are, and who we want to be. A time to put one hand on our heart and one on our belly and ask – ‘what do I need right now?’

What I’m talking about is Yoga, which can simply mean looking around you and noticing where you are, sensing the Earth beneath your feet, feeling the air surge into your lungs, listening to the bird call in the morning. To get present, get centred, get here now in this moment.

This is not the time for ‘What ifs?, ‘What will happen?’ ’What if X happens?’ ‘How will I cope…?’ When the mind is scared, it tries to keep you safe by predicting the future in order that you can mitigate and insure yourself against what might come. It can wear itself trying to keep you safe. Thank the mind, it is only doing its job. Thank your mind and release it, every time by coming back to your breath. Your breath is where it’s at, literally. We focus so much on the breath in Yoga to pull us into this moment, and this moment, and this moment, ad infinitum. Otherwise where are you? You’re future tripping bae and it’s already too dystopian zombie-land weird to do that right now. keep it grounded, keep it present.

Notice your feelings, what’s rising for you moment to moment. Honour that, breathe with it, release it through the breath.

The only place you are ever safe is here. Is Now.

(I’ll be bringing all sort of yoga related content straight to your face very soon, meditation, breathing and movement. There has never been a more important time to learn to regulate ourselves.)

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