Love > Fear
It has been said, that
fear cannot exist where there is love.
The issue I have often faced is that if
I can't recognize fear, then how can I intentionally choose love?
The answer, as with so many questions, seems to make itself known through yoga and meditation practice.
If I have learned anything on the mat from so many gifted guides, it is that the repression of any emotion, most of all fear, leads to dis-ease.
Often when we practice cultivating self-awareness through yoga and meditation, fear can rise to the surface. It makes itself known through our own language of mental, emotional and physical responses. Through practice, we can notice and feel these responses as we continually scan ourselves for variances within our state of being. We may feel a blockage, tightness, heart palpitations, hormonal shifts, stomach uneasiness, anger or an urge to run away. The list goes on. The fear response is personal to each of us, and understanding our own fear response can be the first step on a path to love, the kind of love that emanates from within....in other words,
our inner light.
My practice has brought me closer to fear, and it has helped me create a language that I now understand. I can describe to you my fear response. I know it, and for the first time, I appreciate it. I know that when I sit with my fear, I am one step closer gaining emotional freedom from it. The fear response on the mat that I now recognize is the same fear that arises in work, relationships and financial insecurity. Practice has offered me clarity to see the choice that is always there in any of these situations-- the choice of whether to choose love over fear. I realize I actually have a choice, and since I have a choice in the matter....and it is up to me, then I will always choose love.
~~~~~
Please join me on the mat this month to explore this idea as we practice together. I teach Hatha yoga at Complete Health Yoga on Tuesdays (6:00 PM), Saturdays (9:30 AM) and Sundays (11:00 AM), with a special heart-focused Hatha class on Thanksgiving at 9:30 AM!
Thank you for sharing your light with the Firefly community. Hope to see you this month - all classes and workshops listed below.
With love and gratitude,
Natalie
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