Meditation And Real Life – Training Thought

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Kristin Shepherd

YJROMwoman.jpg

A friend called this morning, unable to
tear her thoughts away from an all-consuming problem in her life. She
wanted help.

Here’s a reason to meditate.

Unable to tear her thoughts away? That’s a bit like me going to yoga class and being unable to tear myself out of Downward Dog.

This sounds ridiculous, but it isn’t.
I love Downward Dog. I find it easier than almost anything that comes
before or after during a class. It is a familiar place for me. I know
it isn’t best practice for me to stay in Downward Dog for the
entire day, but I’d do it for an entire class if I had my druthers.

Similarly, my friend knows that staying
with lousy thoughts is an easy, seductive rut but isn’t good for
her. She comes back to the painful story over and over like an
obsessive-compulsive wound-picker who would love nothing better than
to be free of herself.

Somehow, we expect to be able to
control our bodies – time to brush my teeth (good hands!), time to
open the door (good wrist action!), time to move out of Downward Dog
(eyes ahead and jump forward) – but not our thoughts. “I can’t
help thinking about this,” we say.

But we can. In fact, the moment I
notice myself thinking an unwanted thought, I can make a choice to
move my thoughts somewhere else, somewhere more loving, more joyous.
If my thoughts return to lousy, shmucky, destructive places, I make
the choice again. I make that choice 570 times a day if I need to.

This is a practice, just like our yoga
on the mat is a practice. Some days I’ll be a genius with it, some
days I won’t. Such is humanhood. But the practice works.

Meditation is this practice. It is the
practice of letting go of my sticky attachment to thoughts.

Something to contemplate next time I am drawn to fear or worry, next time I judge myself, or you, or my life.

And just another reason to adore
meditation.

Thanks to yoga and to meditation’s
central place in yoga. I’m so grateful for both.

I’m also grateful to you for being
here. Thank you for the conversation,

kristin

Dr.
Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All
Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on the web,
on Facebook,
on Twitter,
and on iTunes.

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Meditation And Real Life – Training Thought

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Kristin Shepherd

YJROMwoman.jpg

A friend called this morning, unable to
tear her thoughts away from an all-consuming problem in her life. She
wanted help.

Here’s a reason to meditate.

Unable to tear her thoughts away? That’s a bit like me going to yoga class and being unable to tear myself out of Downward Dog.

This sounds ridiculous, but it isn’t.
I love Downward Dog. I find it easier than almost anything that comes
before or after during a class. It is a familiar place for me. I know
it isn’t best practice for me to stay in Downward Dog for the
entire day, but I’d do it for an entire class if I had my druthers.

Similarly, my friend knows that staying
with lousy thoughts is an easy, seductive rut but isn’t good for
her. She comes back to the painful story over and over like an
obsessive-compulsive wound-picker who would love nothing better than
to be free of herself.

Somehow, we expect to be able to
control our bodies – time to brush my teeth (good hands!), time to
open the door (good wrist action!), time to move out of Downward Dog
(eyes ahead and jump forward) – but not our thoughts. “I can’t
help thinking about this,” we say.

But we can. In fact, the moment I
notice myself thinking an unwanted thought, I can make a choice to
move my thoughts somewhere else, somewhere more loving, more joyous.
If my thoughts return to lousy, shmucky, destructive places, I make
the choice again. I make that choice 570 times a day if I need to.

This is a practice, just like our yoga
on the mat is a practice. Some days I’ll be a genius with it, some
days I won’t. Such is humanhood. But the practice works.

Meditation is this practice. It is the
practice of letting go of my sticky attachment to thoughts.

Something to contemplate next time I am drawn to fear or worry, next time I judge myself, or you, or my life.

And just another reason to adore
meditation.

Thanks to yoga and to meditation’s
central place in yoga. I’m so grateful for both.

I’m also grateful to you for being
here. Thank you for the conversation,

kristin

Dr.
Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All
Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on the web,
on Facebook,
on Twitter,
and on iTunes.

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Why Meditate, Take 1

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Kristin Shepherd

YJROMwoman.jpg

Many of you do it already. Because I’m an enormous fan of meditation, I’m going to compile a list of whys over the next week or so. Please add your own, knowing that everyone who begins meditating contributes to a more conscious, loving planet.

  1. You can do it anywhere you can breathe. Over the last month I have meditated in my car (in three cities), in bathrooms (in three cities), at our university, in a hospital, in a mall, in a hotel room, in my bed, in someone else’s bed (it’s not like it sounds), with my lovely man, by myself, while sitting, standing, and lying down, eyes open, and eyes closed. What else is so portable?

  2. The physical practice of yoga is more likely to become deeper than physical when we add meditation. And yoga, in my humble but opinionated opinion, is not merely a sport.

  3. I don’t know who I am until I meditate. Or I don’t remember who I am. This sounds like hyperbole. It isn’t. Too often, my focus is on what I’m doing today, rather than who is doing it. Why does this matter? Because who I am is far more stable, centered, and peaceful than my to-do list, which can look like an attention-deficit-stream-of-unconsciousness nightmare. I’d rather be grounded in the peaceful me.

  4. I’m homesick when I don’t meditate. I’ve said this one before, but it’s so worth repeating. What we’re doing by meditating is remembering home. The truth is we are home, we are loving, peaceful, whole people. But we have these attention-grabbing rodent brains doing their best to make us forget that.

That’s it for today. More next time. I’d love to hear the reasons you meditate, or the reasons you find yourself unable to start. Both will create great conversation.

Thanks to yoga for being so much more than moving on a mat.

Thanks to you for the conversation,

kristin

Dr. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on iTunes.

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For Those In Need of Yoga

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Kristin Shepherd

yjpartyhat.jpg

I had dinner with some politicians on
Friday. It was more fun than it sounds.

I am so unpolitical that when a man
came over to our table to shake my hand and say he’d heard me speak
before, I smiled blankly and said, ‘hehehehhe” or something
equally charming and profound. I asked, afterward, who he was. Turns
out he’s our mayor.

I was giving a keynote talk to
celebrate a wonderful organization that offers literacy training to
anyone who wants it. All kinds of politicians attended, some of whom
are engaged in an election campaign right now.

One of them had his Blackberry going
all through dinner. I asked him whether he ever takes a day off.  “I
can’t afford to at this point,” he said. I asked about a typical
campaigning day and he reviewed the day he’d just had: something
like 12 events, many of them involving cutting cakes, wearing party hats, and making
wee speeches.

I asked how he maintains his physical energy during these campaigns. He mentioned
several things. He rarely eat the cake at the events. He keeps all kinds of clothes in their car, changing five or six times
each day to suit the events and in order to feel fresh.

And three times a week he visits his
personal trainer at a gym. He’s convinced this increases his
overall energy.

I wanted to weep for him. First,
because I’d go mad, having to shake thousands of hands, remember
hundreds of names, and incur the wrath of the unhappy while smiling for the cake-makers. I’d be in a heap in the back seat of my car,
doing a month-long Savasana.

That was the other thing that made me
want to weep.

I’m all for gyms, and trainers, and
elliptical machines. But hearing very busy people talk about their
very busy lives makes me wish I were an even better ambassador for
yoga.

Because these people need Savasana,
don’t they? And a daily practice that looks inward, that teaches
them they’re beautiful, a regular hour or two that plunks them in a
quiet room full of peaceful, generous, smiling yogis.

I asked whether he’d tried yoga. No
time at this point, he said.

I believe I have affected friends and
family (about my enthusiasm, my sister always says, thank god it
isn’t heroin you’re into, or we’d all be doing it), but I’m
no good with strangers.

It made me wonder whether any of you
have developed a kind of sound bite, some wonderful description of
yoga that you use to invite people like this to yoga class. I’d
love to hear it.

And they could use it.

Many thanks to our politicians for
caring enough to put in these enormous cake days. Thanks to the party-hat guy pictured above at the Kensington Market. Thanks to yoga for
being so wonderful that we’d love to pass it along.

Thanks to you, always, for the
conversation,

kristin

Dr.
Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All
Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on the web,
on Facebook,
on Twitter,
and on iTunes.

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Yoga Laughs

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Kristin Shepherd

yjad.jpg

Things that make me laugh:

  1. The way we all think our form of
    yoga is the best yoga ever. I am the worst culprit that ever lived.
    Kundalini rules!

  2. The way I’m afraid to go back to
    an old class, try a new class, go to a friend’s class, have a new
    teacher show up in my class. For god’s sake, I’m anxious when I
    try a new DVD.

  3. The way a small part of me
    fantasizes that the right mat or the right yoga pants might improve
    my Handstand/Headstand/Crow/Forward Lunge/Camel. No luck so far.

  4. The inside voice that says, “I
    can’t do it, I can’t do it.” That voice has no imagination.
    She’s a one-liner. At least I’m laughing at her now.

  5. The way a yoga practice takes
    60-90 minutes, but yoga thinking, wondering, and dreaming consumes
    about 50 percent of my head space some days.

  6. The way I can’t wait to practice
    and then can’t wait for each pose to end sometimes. Make up your
    mind, honey.

  7. The way I feel. Honestly, I feel
    fantastic these days, so fantastic that it makes me laugh.

    I’d love to hear your yoga laughs.

Thanks to yoga for the humor. Thanks to my brother Adam, a yogi with a flexible face. Thanks to
you for the conversation,

kristin

Dr.
Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All
Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on the web,
on Facebook,
on Twitter,
and on iTunes.

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I Am More Than This

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Kristin Shepherd

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Warning: We are all actors.

Acting in theatre is like growing a
yoga practice. You do it with wonderful people. Some of it is
challenging, most of it is fun. There are a lot of laughs.
All the while, a character and a life story grow. Try it. You’d
love it.

If you come from theatre, acting for
film is crazy.

My agent, who calls me Christian (this
is not encouraging), sent me to a film audition this week. He prefaced
the event by telling me how unlikely it was that I’d get the role
of Lawyer in the movie. Bizillions of other actors auditioning for a
one-paragraph part, he said.

Here’s how it goes. I take half a day
to do hair, makeup, and what I hope are lawyerlike jeans and a jacket.
By noon I don’t recognize myself. I memorize the lines and do my
best to feel like a lawyer.

I arrive at the hotel where the screen
tests are being done. I see 10 other women, all 15 years
younger and beautiful, all dressed in navy suits and stilettos, all
of whom make me feel older than my grandmother (who’s been dead for 25 years) and
profoundly un-lawyerly.

I do a two-minute screen test on camera
during which no one in the room makes eye contact, and I go home,
laughing nervously, saying, that’s the end of the big film career.

Here’s the thing: I’ll bet we all
have days when we’re doing things that are beyond comfortable. New
things, difficult things, potentially humiliating or embarrassing
things. We take risks, all of us, following persistent, tickly
instincts that say, “Try this. Come on, just try.”

I’m a huge fan of risk, of trying new
things. It keeps me alive and I want to be ALIVE while I’m alive,
if you know what I mean.

What I need, in order to take risks, is
something to go home to that pats me on the back. Something that
says, “Good for you, good for you.” Something that assures me that I am
more than the risks I take, more than my successes and failures.

That something at home is yoga. As soon
as I walk in the door, I change clothes, and in full fake lawyer
makeup and hair, begin a good, thorough practice that brings me
home to the real me.

So. I’m grateful for yoga for
creating a comfort place from which I can leap a little higher and a
little more often. (This time, miraculously, I got the part. I’ll
let you know how it goes.)

Has yoga changed your approach to
confidence, risk-taking, and comfort?

Thanks to you for the conversation,

kristin

Dr.
Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All
Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on the web,
on Facebook,
on Twitter,
and on iTunes.

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Yoga Challenges

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Kristin Shepherd

yjdetox.jpg

During
one of this summer’s visits to a friend’s cottage, I brought a
stack of yoga DVDs. We did two classes each day for four days. One of
my friends–I’ll keep her anonymous for reasons that will become
obvious before the end of this sentence–happily reported that she
began pooping four to five times a day by the time we hit day two.
This pooping continued through to the end of day four. She was
thrilled and radiant.

This
makes me wonder about yoga challenges. When I Google “yoga
challenge,” I see 21-day, 30-day, 35-day, and 40-day versions, all of which
promise fabulous benefits, particularly if you throw in meditation, a
vegetarian or vegan or raw diet, gallons of water, and throw out
caffeine, sugar, and chips, I suppose. (Kill me now, why don’t
you, says a significant chunk of my ego.)

I
can’t speak for the dietary changes, but it occurs to me that I’ve
been doing yoga daily for the last 90 days or so, since the onset
of my Kundalini infatuation. Here are some observations:

1.
I’m glad it happened without me labeling it a challenge at the
onset. There’s a chance that a formal commitment would have whipped
up my resistance. I’d like get beyond this kind of resistance.

2.
I adore it every day, often twice each day.

3.
No extra pooping for me, perhaps because my GI tract was happy
already.

4.
There are days when I begin with less energy than I’m used to. On
these days I learn something about how my sleep is affected by my
lovely man’s snoring and the smacking of my dog’s lips all night
long. I learn about what food depletes my energy and what food
restores me. I learn about the effect of my attitude and mood on my
energy levels. Mostly, I learn that I still feel far better within
minutes of beginning practice. This learning has been invaluable.

5.
Practice has become a solid habit. I don’t question whether I’ll
practice, only when.

6.
I think daily practice is increasing my enjoyment of meditation. This one was
unexpected. My meditation feels deeper and more blissful most days.

That’s
it for me. I’d love to know whether you’ve done one of these
challenges and how you felt it changed you or your practice. Was
it significantly different than doing three days a week? Did it help you establish
a home practice? Did you lose your taste for chips altogether? So many questions.

By the way, Yoga Journal has a 7-day Ayurvedic Fall Detox challenge beginning Sept. 12th. Good timing?

Thanks
to yoga for presenting all kinds of challenges. Thanks
to you for the conversation,

kristin

Dr.
Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All
Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on the web,
on Facebook,
on Twitter,
and on iTunes.

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Learning What I’m Not

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Kristin Shepherd

yjmeditation.jpg

“Don’t
pretend yourself beyond your evolution.” Byron Katie

I
thought by now I’d be calling all poses by their Sanskrit names. I
thought I’d be vegan, dressed in earthy-bushy-leafy colors and
hemp cloth, sprouting sprouts, and drinking water from my own well.

I’ve
been at this yoga practice for almost two years, and my current
thought is that it ain’t gonna happen.

Sometimes
you approach what you are by learning what you aren’t.

As
far as I can tell, I am not a disciple, one of the solemnly
eight-branch earnest. I do not see yoga as the one and only path for
all. I’m not interested in quoting the sutras the way others quote
the Bible or any other religious text as an ultimate authority.
Although I’m impressed by yoga’s longevity, I feel no obligation
to do it the way it was done 2,000 years ago.

Nor
am I one of the Lululemon movement, on a modern marketing train, doing some
miraculous hybrid of the old and the capitalist/activist new. Kudos
to them for being the reason so many people my kids’ age will love
yoga. And for making so many bums look good in yoga pants. Not my thing, so far.

Where
am I, then? So far, it’s all about feeling great. I like yoga because it feels deliriously good, inside and out. My greatest belief is that we should all pursue whatever makes us feel this good.

I
love what makes me feel at home in my body and on the planet. I love
feeling strong and increasingly peaceful. I love meeting myself
during practice every day. I love following the kind of practice that
makes me feel most alive.

I
suspect, bottom line, that yoga is the best vehicle for taking me where I’ve been
headed all my life anyway.

This
is not to disparage yoga in any way. Rather, I’m wary of setting
yoga up as the be-all and end-all, the great savior. I’m not
interested in worshiping yoga. I’m interested in questioning her, learning from her, spending time hanging out with her. I’m interested in her
companionship.

So
that’s where I am. Yoga as friend.

I’d
love to hear your thoughts about what you are and what you aren’t. About where yoga fits in your life at this point.

Thanks
to yoga for being so roomy, so multifaceted, and so generous.

Thanks
to you for the conversation,

kristin

Dr.
Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All
Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on the web,
on Facebook,
on Twitter,
and on iTunes.

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Missing Emma

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Kristin Shepherd

yjemma.jpg

Two friends of mine said goodbye to
their 16-year-old dog last week.

Emma, a golden lab, arrived sometime
after Kevin and Sue met but before they married. She shed blond hair
the way the sun shines: prolifically and without pause. She was the
most stubborn dog in Ontario, if not all of Canada. Three weeks
before her exit, she was still bashing her head into any closed door
that she wanted open, and she wanted all closed doors open.

She was a beloved friend and family
member, something that non-animal people sometimes find hard to
understand and animal people understand fully.

Rosie, my dog, and I joined Kevin and Sue
and Sophie (Emma’s little sister) at the cottage this weekend.
Everywhere you look, Emma looks back. Her hair is everywhere,
naturally. She was a voracious morning eater. Crazy lab, used to
drive us mad. Now, early morning feels empty. Someone should be tearing through a huge bowl of kibble at the speed of sound.

Sophie is lonely, and knows something
has changed. Even Rosie gets up every morning and sniffs her way
around the beach, looking for Emma.

If you’ve been through it, you know
this story.

We spent long, dusky evenings over good
meals and wine, talking about how wonderful she was, and how hard it
is to believe she’s gone from here.

And twice a day, we rolled out yoga
mats and flung our bodies and hearts into vigorous practice. It was
the best answer, ever, to grief.

We worked hard, we chanted with full
voices, we sank during Savasana into everything there was to feel.

You know how it is with yoga. You move
your beautiful body and all kinds of feelings move through your body.
Some you’re expecting, some you’re not. It’s wonderful to be
with people you love so that the unexpected feelings can have their
say without embarrassment or regret.

This week I’m grateful for yoga’s
power to help us move through grief.

And I’ll bet you have gazillions of
stories on this one. I’d love to hear.

Thanks to yoga for being a part of
celebrating Emma’s fine, fine life. Thanks to you for being here,
and for the conversation,

kristin

Dr.
Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All
Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on the web,
on Facebook,
on Twitter,
and on iTunes.

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Fantasy Yoga Class

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Kristin Shepherd

15354_24.jpgThis morning I’m dreaming about a fantasy yoga class. Here’s what mine looks like:

First, it’s Kundalini yoga. I’m
smitten. What can I say.

The class includes the following
people:

1.
Gurmukh Kaur
Khalsa, the great whirling dervish Kundalini yogini. (She can teach
the class.)

2.
My grandfather. He’s been gone for 25 years, but he taught me to
stand on my head when he was 65, so my guess is he’d love to be
included.

3.
Patanjali, the guy who wrote the Yoga Sutra. I’d love to ask him
what he thinks
about modern yoga.

4.
Sting. He can lead the chanting.

5.
All right, his wife Trudie Styler can come. She’s a pretty
fabulous yogini, too.

I’m
getting nervous about having too many yoga gods in the class, so next
is:

6.
Javier Bardem, the best actor in the world. When I Google Javier and
yoga, the only thing that comes up is my own infatuation with him, so
my guess is he is not a yogin, at least in public. His presence would,
of course, challenge my sustained focus on my own practice. This, I
figure, would be awful and wonderful at the same time.

7.
My kids. They are spread all over Canada and I miss them.

8.
My lovely man, provided he’s all right with Javier Bardem. I want
this class to be harmonious.

That’s
it. That’s my fantasy class.

Who’s
in yours? I’d love to hear.

Thanks
to yoga for feeding my imagination. Thanks to you for the
conversation,

kristin

Dr.
Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All
Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on the web,
on Facebook,
on Twitter,
and on iTunes.

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