How to Anchor Yourself to the Present

I love yoga. Yoga is how I realign myself from the outside and inside noise. This world is loud and at times, so is my mind. I tend to pick out teachers who speak directly to my spirit. Teachers who hold spaces that blend dimensions. Tracy Sharp is one of those teachers.

In her classes, her sweaty, calm, beautifully challenging classes, Tracy says a thing that hits deep into my core every single time I hear it. We move relatively fast in this specific studio & the moves are tough so it can be easy to lose balance from one pose to the next. Tracy however always tells us:

“When you move slowly through the transitions, it’s easier to maintain balance.”

Transitions in life, not dissimilar to transitions in yoga, can be messy. They can feel clumsy, shaky, and oftentimes push our attention away from the present moment. When Tracy first delivered the message, I tried it. I didn’t focus on rushing out of the current pose & perfecting the next pose. Instead, I slowed down my pace, focused on my breath & just like that my balance was solid. Our breath, as you’ll hear us talk about on Pretty Mental, is what brings us back to our senses. In our first episode, A Dedication to Mechis, Paula says:

“When your mind is spiraling & spinning, literally come to your senses because your body is the one thing that is always here in the present moment. Our minds try to jump from the future to the past to the future to the past…our body is our anchor to the present reality and that’s the only place where we can actually have an impact on the outcome of things.”

Our breath, it holds us together. It keeps us grounded. It brings us back into present awareness and thus, it keeps us in balance. In life, and especially in life transitions, it’s easy to get lost in the chaos & our awareness of our breath is the first to slip away. Yet this is the thing that will give us the most peace and clarity. This is what will best equip us to deal with the present.

So as we move through life and navigate these next transitions. As we go from here, to the next here, be here now. Breathe. Move slowly. Take a step away from “just trying to get there” and set your awareness on the now. I used to think that speedy quick was the best way to do everything (I’m an Aries) so this has been a huge learning lesson for me and 100% one of the most rewarding ones.

Slow down & breathe Pretty Mental family. & as always, be kind to yourself.