Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew.

Saint Francis de Sales
French saint & bishop of Geneva (1567 – 1622)

“Patience can’t be acquired overnight. It is just like building up a muscle. Every day you need to work on it.”

Eknath Easwaran quotes

Aminda’s Musings

Sometimes inspiration comes from the oddest places…it started last week with a bruise and an idea formed, how does a bruise equal a theme about patience? So glad you asked, let me tell you a story…

I dropped my motorcycle about 2 weeks ago, nothing major was rolling it into a parking space and wasn’t paying attention (yeah should probably write about staying present…where was I?)  lost control a little bit and, well once 500 plus pounds of bike starts to fall you are pretty much along for the ride. So I hurt my leg. Not a big deal, it happens, and I was just glad it wasn’t the leg that’s healing from when the car hit me on the bicycle (don’t ask I’m really not as accident prone as it sounds)  So, I’m feeling grateful that it’s a new leg and not too bad, I get the bike up and all is well.  I actually forget about it until yoga class the next morning and I bring the class into baddha konasan (bound angle pose) and there it is…big ugly bruise and giant lump.  Funny how as soon as I saw it I could feel the throbbing pain in my leg that I swear wasn’t there before.

Over the course of the next week it grows more painful, even slowing down my practice a bit, I’m inconvenienced but it starts to heal and I let it go.  About 4 days later I think it’s basically gone when I go have some polarity work done…Next day, bigger and bluer than ever. It’s as if a whole new layer had surfaced. Interesting. Again it begins to heal and fade…at last I think, I mean really I don’t need to look like I do roller derby on the side between yoga classes. But that bruise isn’t done yet, no sir it has yet another surge of swelling and new colors I didn’t even know skin could turn, this happened after an intense pranayama practice…

Layer upon Layer upon Layer…and first I thought about Ogres. Oh come on you know, because Ogres are like onions?

And there I was on my yoga mat attempting, still — yet again —- forever —- to go completely into Hanumanasana (full splits)  and the bruise ached, and I laughed out loud at an odd time in class thinking about ogres, onions and parfaits, when it hit me…Layers…that’s what yoga is about….peeling back the layers, uncovering the perfection within and that process takes perseverance and patience.

Damn universe reminding me about truth in painful ways…like it’s all some sort of plan or something…sheesh

So there you have it from bruise to patience…

What layers are you uncovering? What hurts and pains and blocks are you uncovering?  When they come up they can set us back or we can look at them, admire the colors of the bruise and feel blessed that they are healing.

Asana (Yoga Pose) for the week: (oh come on you must have figured it out…)

Hanumanasana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EWACssf7yw&feature=related

Fitness Tip of the Week:

Notice how small changes become big things over time.  Look at where you were 5 years ago?  If you lost only ½ a pound a month over 5 years that would be 30 lbs today (sadly it works the opposite way as well) But you get the point, if you make slow, gradual changes over the course of time they become HUGE accomplishments.  This is patience. Don’t try to accomplish it all today or overnight, start taking the steps and before you know it, large leaps have occurred.

Mantra for the week:

I am patience (repeat on the inhale and exhale)

Eknath Easwaran quotes