All These Places

Yesterday in yoga, we focused on hip opening exercises. After a good practice, we reclined into our final resting pose—feet together, knees out, arms out to the side. I started to get a little emotional and so rather than wasting a good yoga session by diving into a black hole, I decided to use my breath to deal. As I inhaled, I spoke to myself words like happiness and opportunity and new beginnings. With each exhale, I pushed out bitterness, anger…regret. Steady breathing, tears slipping out of the corners of my eyes.

We returned to our seated position and the instructor informed us that the hips were the home of the chakra that contained emotion; and that in opening our hips, we were opening ourselves to those emotions. In other words, I should have seen in coming.

 But the trick, she said, was to acknowledge these emotions and then let….them…go. Turns out I’m getting pretty good at this yogi thing.

My mind is a host of varying swinging emotions these days. And each of them have their place…it’s just learning where to put them. I picture moving them around like giant puzzle pieces in my body, giving them a place, not calling them good or bad, but still giving them a home.

“It is what it is” is one of my least favorite expressions. I feel like people say it when they have nothing else to really say. But I guess it really is what it is. Extreme happiness is just that, until something comes crashing in. Extreme anger is just that until you find yourself over it, even if it’s just a little bit. Feelings of loss someday release their grip on your heart by the slightest little squeeze. But until then, those things ARE and they are yours to acknowledge.

So, go forth my friends, whether you find this by opening your hips and accessing chakras…or rather the next time you say “It is what it is.” Own your emotions, don’t call them names—just call them yours. Work out that jigsaw puzzle, knowing that the shapes might constantly change. The beauty lies in that constantly shifting picture.