Photo by RetroSupply on Unsplash
Hello!!
Can we pause for one moment?
Yes I know we are busy navigating through the new COVID norm or stressed about putting food on the table or overwhelmed with what to do, lost, frustrated, or maybe you’re just fine?
Let’s just pause and do a check-in with our inner self, shall we?
Close your eyes. Bring yourself back to the last 6 months or perhaps the last few years and make a mental list of your winnables? What you’ve learnt about yourself? What you’ve achieved? How you have helped others? How have you expanded yourself?
It’s so easy for us to focus on what the bad stuff, things that went wrong, failed, need fixing or it’s not working - instead of the good stuff.
LOOKING BACK ….
Believe it or not, it has been 5 years since I started my blog under the now defunct soulaktive.com - check out my first blog post written in Jan 2015.
And because I’ve had enough of “figuring out" Wordpress every time I want to write a post, I moved my site to Squarespace, so I said goodbye to Soulaktive , and in Aug 2018, sophiexsanders.com went live, this was my announcement.
At the same time, I also agreed to take on New Angle Yoga’s classes when Trish Corley left Singapore, which manifested itself as amipoweryoga.com
It’s all here - my diary, my journey laid out on sophiexsanders.com
5 years wow!
And I’d like to thank one of my sweet peeps, Farhana for reminding me how far I’ve come with my writing.
Good stuff!
I’m amazed at my ability to commit to writing weekly for 5 years, which means I have written over 200 posts, which means I do have the capacity to commit to anything I put my mind to, even though my mind keeps tell me “I can’t”. (Yes, I can commit to meditate daily!)
And sharing about my life and especially about trying to have a baby at 40 - has given me a new direction and purpose in my life , which is to support the IVF community in Singapore. (Vulnerability is an act of courage, not weakness)
And when I feel like I’m not a good enough writer or teacher, I still show up anyways because if not me, then who? (There is this continuous need to practice kindness on MYSELF.)
Good stuff like that.
Photo by Robert Bahn on Unsplash
Grow. This is what you are here for.
Commitment, courage and kindness or other values cannot be measured nor can it be “shown” in a fancy yoga pose on Instagram. When you are doing a work of service, you won’t get approval nor acknowledgements (though there are few that I’ve been blessed with)
Service by way of showing up for people, being willing to forgive, sharing your stories, helping those who are in need of help, giving generously without expecting anything back
We should never want to arrive healed or fixed or perfect - because if we do, we will never grow and we will never learn.
Why Baptiste yoga
I’m super grateful for the practices of Baptiste yoga because it gave me the foundation to want to start just being a better person and allowed me to embrace the imperfect me.
In being committed to growth, I’m in the practice of letting go of what does not serve me so I can clear my space to allow grace and something wonderful to come in.
Updates to Sophiexsanders.com
So my journey with my writing continues ………..
I’m celebrating what has been working, and dropping what is not working so I can create space for possibilities.
There are going to be some changes on my online space - you won’t even notice them but I’m letting go of amipoweryoga.com and integrating my yoga classes into sophiexsanders.com (In case you’re wondering why the email address is different - this is why.)
Photo by Arnaud Weyts on Unsplash
DO THE WORK:
Do you want to make space for something new? “If you’re no to something, you’re a yes to something else"
If anything is possible, what are your dreams/your goals? What do you want to make happen?
In the Baptiste Yoga methodology - the 1st part of Art and Mastery of Practising & Teaching Baptiste Yoga is to “LOOK: For True North & what's possible. Put your drishti on the areas you want to transform.”
What do you need to let go/give up in order to create space for what you want to make happen?
In order to create space, you’ve to let go on what’s not serving you and get empty.
Emptiness doesn’t mean loneliness or separation or putting things aside (ignoring).
Getting empty means getting all the“the not good enoughs” stuff out of the way, and so there is space to plant a kinder seed into your mind.
Write a declaration: I commit to………….
Declare your commitment in your journal, or write to me, or in the comments below, on social media, to your family and your friends. Choose 1 or all the above.
Put it out there, whether or not you know how to do it, or what’s going to happen. Just let it be.
I can’t promise that “making space” is going to be easy and honestly, it may take awhile. And it’s never too late. There is time. And this is definitely a journey that you want to stay on… it will keep on going and dare I say keeps on giving?
It’s the struggles that makes us stronger.