Jill Dowling

Please do not be afraid for I am remodeling around here and will soon provide another beautiful space to rant and rave about my splendid life.  Hopefully this new creation will spark some creativity in me and in my life and I will include more pictures and write more.  Stay tuned.

Wow, it has been a long time since I have sat down to write a new post on my blog.  Mostly because I have been extra busy over the last few months with my yoga teacher training at Yoga Pura.  I graduated from the program on December 16!  My focus and time for so long was dedicated to practicing yoga, student teaching, assistant teaching (still 12 more required hours to go on this), regular teaching and the program and required reading/homework (of course also my full time job) that I forgot how it felt not to have committments, requirements and  a little bit of spare time.  Don’t get me wrong, I love what I am doing, love yoga, it is my life and my passion, however, there is something to be said about reconnecting with some “free” time now that the program and most of my committments are done.   I have been caught too many times lately saying that I am on a reprieve. 

This year has taught me so much, one thing I have learned related to the above is that I tend to cause an unneeded struggle when I am over-committed or really, just committed.  It is almost as if just the thought of what I have on my plate makes me hoard any possible spare time to do nothing other than re-fuel.  I have realized that this is a rather ugly habit.  Anyone else struggle with this? This is something I am continually bringing my awareness to and I am going to get to the bottom of it.  For now, I continue to practice yoga, teach one class per week at current and enjoy a little lounging time here and there.

I actually had time and energy to go to the gym and workout last night and it felt great considering my other passion on top of yoga is physical fitness and nutrition. I know that my “reprieve” won’t last too long because I am just that person who will continually get involved with what I love and stay committed but I now know that it is all just living and does not necessarily need to be labled as committment or non-commitment especially since I don’t tend to fill my time with anything that I don’t love. Whether I am in the groove or out of the groove it is all the same.

 

 

 

 

Isn’t this (as I’ve called it before) a heavenly web page I have goin’ on here? I just love it. It is simply beautiful, serene, tranquil, not to mention my all time favorite color - green! I am mentioning this because the web guru in my life says it is time to update my WordPress which I thought was fine at first but apparently this means my page “theme” too. My lovely lotus flower will no longer greet me or you (if there is a you) when opening my blog to see what my fingers have produced lately. So sad…you see where I’m going with this?

I keep putting it off and recently realized why; I am suffering from attachment. I am attached to this little page that I, for some reason or another, feel defines me. [Note to self - write blog entry on why I need defined?? Ha!] Thank goodness I realized my attachment and I am now opening up to change and letting go. Whatever my web guru says goes!

Why do we get attached to things, people, routines, anything really? Attachment to anything will simply cause suffering.

I read something somewhere along these lines - Love it as it comes, love it as it goes.

This afternoon at work I decided that I had been sitting on my butt in front of the computer for way too long and decided to go outside for a short walk.  I do this often because it just feels good to get some fresh air, some natural sunlight and break away from the office and re-group.  Eight hours is a long time to be under awful florescent lighting, staring at computer screens, listening to ringing, buzzing, yacking, loud speaker paging, gossip and so on. 

I was even more excited about my walk today because it is finally simmering down a bit here in Arizona, I think it was only 98 degrees today and a little breezy.  As I walk out of the building I start strolling down the sidewalk with a smile on my face and just feeling happy to be alive and in the moment.  It was right after that, that I happened to notice many other people were out strolling too - they must have needed a break as well.  However, they were either talking (loudly, almost hostile) on their cell phones, smoking stinky cigarettes or walking way too fast to get somewhere and not really taking in the beauty of this breezy afternoon.  I am questioning whether people know how to take a break and just be quiet and relax for a moment.  I guess maybe the stinky cigarette people are being quiet but they have a whole other problem going on.  It is like people are continuously moving from one distraction to another.

I started thinking  about this a couple days ago when something strange happened - I did not receive one single email for like 5 hours straight….that’s a long time!  Heaven help me.  Nobody loves me. I thought I was above all of the technological addictions but apparently I am not because I just couldn’t believe it, I thought there must be something wrong here, something is not working.   Of course, the Yogi that I am, I was completely aware of how hilarious this was and thought to myself - how did I get here?  (And then I started emailing my friends and saying hey - what the ?)

So, when I take my next afternoon stroll and pass by the usual cell phone talkers, fast walkers and stinky mouths I will just continue to smile and let them wonder “what the hell is she smiling about?”

 

Although earlier than I had planned, I began teaching a weekly yoga class at a gym last week.  Initially I planned on first completing my 500 hour advanced studies and teaching training requirements and then focus on teaching, however and as usual, the universe had a different plan for me.  An opportunity was presented to me and I took the clue and went for it.

I quite enjoyed my first class and, as with everything, when you are actually deeply involved and hands on, you learn more and a lot quicker.  In preparing my first class and my class for this week, all the aspects really sunk in and everything I have been learning in the program rushed through me all at once.  I thought I would be more nervous but I realized that all I need to do is to simply trust that things will go the way they are supposed to and no worry is needed.  The class was small and I had a few word fumbles here and there but all and all I would say for my first class it was a success.  There are mostly beginner yoga students at a gym environment so it makes perfect sense for me to come in as a new teacher as well and we all can practice together.

Well, I’m off to fine tune my sequence for tonight. It truly does feel as if I am packaging up a special gift and handing it over to some students who need it whether they know it or not.  How lucky am I?

 

 

 

This is Cu-Joe and Scoutt’s new brother, Indie !

What do our dogs have to teach us? A whole heck of a lot. They don’t waste energy on holding grudges they just live in the moment. My dogs don’t hate me because I was too busy to play with them yesterday, they just take me for what I am today and love me.

They don’t treat me differently or judge me when I don’t have makeup on or when I am wearing my sweats and slippers. It is all the same to them all the time.

They love everyone, all the time, unconditionally, no matter what. Can we do that? Yes, we can if we let go of our ego, our judgments, our pre-conditioning, past and future thoughts and live right now and realize that we are all the same person inside.

My dogs rule. Here is a picture of the handsome fellas loving life in their very own backyard.

Everything in my life right now is magical. The friends; the experiences; the learning; the awakening; the awareness; the now. I always had this sneaking suspicion, even way back as a child, that I was in for something big someday but I didn’t know what shape or form it would come. Well it has come and it is divine. You can almost see the fairy dust floating as things move in and out of my life lately. It is everything and nothing all at the same time.

You can call me melodramatic, it’s okay.

Fear used to play a large role in my decision making, as such, avoidance was a big part of my life. I finally decided to stop being victimized by this fear and really start confronting things, making some changes and taking part in what I had been missing out on.

When you feel uncomfortable or get unusually stiff or rigid in a situation of course your first instinct is to run away from it toward a more pleasurable experience - but why take the easy way out? Don’t you wonder why that present moment is not pleasurable? In my Yoga teacher training program we have been working with “feeling the burn”. This is what I am talking about here. I don’t know about you but I would prefer that I don’t run away like a chicken or avoid something all together out of fear or fear of discomfort. It is just silly.

This is how it works - you come up against something that makes you uncomfortable and instead of running from it you feel that burning inside of you and just accept it, let it burn. Keep working at it and focus on your breathing while you confront it head on. The more you practice this, believe it or not, the burn will lessen and lessen and the fire will go out. Things get easier to deal with. Practice, that is all it takes.

You can use this tool in many different areas. For example, one of the ways I recently used it was when I had an opinion/belief that my boyfriend should do something a certain way, the way I wanted it or thought that it should be done. Now, remember, everyone has their way, their own beliefs and there really is no right and wrong, except in your mind where you made up certain reasons as to why things should go a certain way, blah blah. Anyhow, when something did not go my way and was out of my control (heaven help me!), well I wanted to let loose - I wanted to rant and rave. Luckily, I took this opportunity to realize that this would just be a release of ridiculous words and thoughts that really wouldn’t change anything but would just put us all in a bad mood. So, I felt the burn. And baby it burned, but it also paid off.

I cannot stress how wonderful this tool really is. All I can say is try it out. Instead of immediately reacting, take a minute and really look at the situation as a witness, detach from your character and let go.

This past Saturday I attended a 3 hour crash course on how to teach prenatal yoga taught by Laura Timothy.  I was drawn to the workshop right away but even more intrigued during and after Laura’s teachings.  I am definitely ready to learn more.

Since my purpose in learning to teach yoga is to “share the wealth” so to say; share the immense physical, mental and spiritual benefits yoga has to offer in hopes to create peace in as many people as possible and for this peace to continue on through every person they meet and so on and so forth, it makes perfect sense to start the process with a mom-to-be and  at a child’s earliest stage of development - in the womb.

The workshop detailed various adjustments you would make to your usual directives as a teacher so that you are sure to make room for mommy’s belly, support her now overly swayed and sore lower back and to keep her safe and comfortable.  For example, the use of props becomes very important.  A mom can place her hands on a chair or the wall to support her in downward-facing-dog thus keeping her and the baby more upright.  Another difference would be to have your holds a lot shorter and give the mom’s plenty of resting time in between poses. 

Laura mentioned that if you can get the expecting mom in your class to come back to a class (which includes baby as well) after the baby is born you will see that the baby recognizes your voice! That is amazing.

Having the opportunity to teach and nuture women during this time in their life will be absolutely priceless.