COURTNEY ROHAN YOGA

When Boston and I rang the cancer-free bell, 2010  Do you ever notice that as soon as we think we know something, it changes, or we realize we don’t really know it? Lately, I have noticed this in my life. Working through disease, this tends to happen quicker,  be more noticeable. And the train keeps on, the vat of information, wisdom, love, going deeper; there appears to always be one more door. The Universe is amazing that way. Colors are vast in tone. What God creates is beyond human capacity, in my opinion. We dream an idea that we can see only so deeply, and then Source takes over. The fact that we think we will know what will happen next is incredulous. But we keep trying, trying to do it our way, don't we? As I heal, open to a cure for a disease that I was diagnosed with nine years ago, this chronic form of leukemia has afforded me a front row to see spaces. The space between the last cycle of chemotherapy, the last blood transfusion, the last hospital, or doctor seen.

America is under stress. The world is. Its inhabitants are. But everytime I look around, I see the good rising up out of the mud, the lotus clean and vibrant, rising at its proper time. Good stress is hard to imagine, but we experience it all the time. If you have ever felt in control while doing something that challenged you, pushing yourself, working your edge and living your best experience of it, you felt good stress. Stress when purposefully used is one of the beautifully challenging things about living. It encourages you. It motivates you to do more, to rise up, or reach out, and be apart of your life. And, after the stress: the class, the conversation, the friction, the dis-ease, you reap more.  Good stress when met and embraced brings a good dose of good feeling hormones, happiness, and relaxation. You are more than your stress, and undoubtedly, knowing how to relieve unwanted stress is necessary. Still, can we observe that which feels unwanted, create a practice of stres

How interesting to know that what will help us is the very thing that we resist. We’ve all felt that, right? The food that we should eat sits waiting. The walk that would help us feel lighter after a long day abated by thoughts of all the other things we think we should do first. For me these days, the stillness I know I need has been pressed upon me. I can not say no. That is what healing will do. Or pain, they have the ability to bring you to a halt. But maybe we could repurpose surrender so that we do not have to be forced to stillness? It is a daily challenge for us, I believe, to surrender. We feel bombarded by all the problems, conversations, situations... all the work stuff and home life and forget what it looks like to let things go when they are over. It’s time we repurpose surrender. It is time to let go of the past and be in the present. Surrender again and reconnect with how good it feels to let things go. Repurpose surrender. Make it easy. Do so in small ways e