Be Still

I wrote this blog back in August of 2009, it is a great reminder of how much we need YOGA in our lives to help us slow down and reconnect with how our bodies are feeling. My yoga programs are a great addition to your weekly fitness program.

This week I went back to Athens, back to school, back to chaos. Along with over 50,000 others, I hustled around campus this week trying to find the quickest route to each of my classes. The non stop walking all day, left my ankle angry and terribly sore. After mapping out my route to work (I got a job as a Personal Trainer at the Ramsey Student Center on campus!) and class, I calculated at least two hours of walking each day. Walking was too painful. Parking was too expensive. My only solution was to find a more efficient way to travel. I ventured to a place I never thought I would go. To the Hub Bicycle Shop.

Upon entering this foreign land, I signed over any decisions to the bike guy, an Athens lifer, who most likely biked his way out of the womb. His patience stood the test of time, as I asked him every question about bikes possible. We got outside with the bike I had chosen and he comforted me with the over-used and under-comforting saying "it's just like riding a bike." I biked to yoga, to class, and to work this week. So far, so good.

As everyone is running around in the chaos that comes with the Back to School season, I wanted to pass on my recent devotional reading.

It comes from Kristin Armstrong's (my absolute most favorite person, I've never met) book, Happily Ever After: Walking with Peace and Courage through a Year of Divorce.

In the words of Kristin Armstrong, "We women, in our innate desire to be all things to all people, are frantic. We rush around in a blur of car pools, meetings, exercise, and the frantic hustle of what it takes to make households, careers, and relationships run. We take on more than our share and quietly resent the fact that our inner reserve has long ago gone dry...Sooner or later we have to stop and take a breath. Often when we are forced to be still, the magnitude of weight we carry becomes enormous, the loneliness unbearable. We think momentum keeps us from thinking...from feeling...from knowing...from going there. Where do you go to get alone with God? Do you even know? Find out. Go there, alone, and be still. Sit long enough for the awareness to overcome you; that your burden is not meant for you to shoulder alone."

Remember to not let the hustle and bustle of fall consume you. Embrace it. Take each task one step at a time. And remember to set aside time for yourself, so that you can give yourself to others throughout the day.

Love your favorite fitness buddy, Greer :)