I took a yoga class last night and the teacher spoke about resilience. What an elegant word that I had not heard in quite some time, packed with a meaning that seemed to knock right on the doors of my heart in such a timely fashion.
Resilience is the ability to bounce back or return to our natural state. It’s our ability to adapt to stress and adversity, which life is always full of. This topic really resonated within me because I had shown up for this power yoga class to do just that: to get back to something that stabilizes me and feeds my strength.
Over the past few weeks and even months, I’ve fallen out of my yoga practice with a busy schedule, shoulder injury, moving and organizing so many logistics. I felt myself feeling stressed, worried and very much so out of my natural state of being.
It’s super easy for life to bring us out of our rhythm and for us to to feel or even fall off track. This message couldn’t have come across my ears at a better time. The beauty of the meaning behind resilience is that it allows us to always get back to our roots.
To get back to what we love.
To return to the things that keep us grounded and bring us peace.
It’s a call to remember our strength, power and ability to overcome obstacles.
It had been about a month since my feet landed on my mat or since I had a sweat session like that. It reminded me of how important it is that we do the things in life that help us release stress, find balance and stay in alignment with our highest possibilites.
I remember at one point in the class, thinking to myself, “gosh this feels like home,” along with “why haven’t I been doing this more often.” I literally felt my stress melting away and a sense of returning to myself, which had felt a bit shuffled around lately with suitcase living and traveling.
I forget sometimes how settling, calming and grounding this piece of my spiritual practice is for me and subsequently how imperative it is for my well being, especially in my sobriety. It’s a place where I can tune out and tune in without having to escape reality with drugs or alcohol like I used to.
This simple message to focus on my resilience and ability to adapt to stress by returning “home” to myself, was a great reminder that no matter the circumstances of life, we always have the choice of going to our happy place. And that sometimes, by returning there we come back even stronger knowing that we are capable of adapting, reconnecting and flowing with life.
If life has you feeling stressed or upside down, let this serve as a gentle reminder that you, too, have a beautiful resilience inside of you to tap in to at any time. Never forget to take time for yourself to do the things you need to do to maintain your balance.
We are hardwired to adapt to life and all of its moving pieces. By sourcing the spirit of our resilient nature, we can always find our way and be certain that, no matter what, our path’s can always be made straight.
By understanding the art of resilience and working with it, you will experience more happiness, peace and strength.
The title is one of my favorite quotes and affirmations: “Be strong, you never know who you are inspiring.”
Let’s not forget to keep inspiring ourselves each and every day by surprising ourselves with our strength, adaptability, knack for figuring things out and limitless capacity to thrive by turning setbacks into comebacks. From my happy place to yours: Namaste.