Job hunting/yoga retreat week…..

In the middle of hunting for a job in my new city is it really the best time to give myself a yoga retreat week?  I think it actually might be the perfect time.

I got the idea last night when I took a meditation class at a new studio.  The teacher, had the same vibe as my teachers in TO which was comforting to me, and the meditation class was a combination of breath and poses.  Towards the end she did a little lesson on “Ahimsa” and what it means.

Ahimsa: (“nonharming”): the single most important moral discipline (yama)

Her explanation of how this fits into everyday life was beautiful and it works with my “be positive” experiment I’m undertaking this week.  She said it means to be as “non-harming” as we can be to others and to ourselves, in what we say and what we think. She continued on to tell us that there really isn’t, in her opinion a way to be completely non harming in our society (eating meat came up a few times in this conversation) but instead to be conscious of what we are doing with our day-to-day lives, and the decisions we can be in control of, I’m paraphrasing of course.

I liked the instructor, I like the feel of the studio, I like the way the way she taught.  This could be a great choice for me, however I still have a 3 month pass at the other studio SO I’ve decided over the next week and 1/2 I’m going to add to my positivity experiment and include a yoga element.

For those of you who know me well, I’ve been on the yoga train for a while now, last year I began with morning yoga 2 times a week for 6 months – which was amazing.  I then became a little lax at the cottage and in October even stopped practicing for about 2 months, probably when I needed it the most I abandoned my practice because of fear.  I was afraid of the emotions that would come out of being on the mat, the life decisions being made were tough and scary.  I was right to be aware of this, when I did go back in december, I noticed quite a number of feelings coming out – quite a bit of anger, sadness and loneliness.

I’ve decided that I’m going to bounce between the 2 studios for the next little while, morning classes every day, 2 mediation classes and then I’m going to experiment with a few of the other classes at both studios.  At the moment, I have a little time where I can run this type of experiment, I’m still job searching but this will help with the hours that I spend twirling my thumbs wondering what to do with all the time I have on my hands. With 2 studios there should be lots of choice of classes available.

The teachers theory, and my friend Mary Anne’s theory, seem to be the same.  If you think positive thoughts then it will make everything easier in your life. To accept this way of thinking into a daily practice will make all the big things disappear.  I always find that I am more grounded and calmer when I’m doing a daily yoga practice, I think some of my friends have noticed this as well.  Right now job hunting in a strange place is incredibly stressful and being alone, although, familiar can be revealing.  A few hours a day doing yoga and meditation will not only help me become a stronger, calmer person it will help with all those unfilled hours.

So, yes, I think now is the perfect time to add a yoga-retreat-week to my positive thinking job-hunting week, my goal is to find a job that I love and that pays well.  Isn’t that everyone’s goal?  The next goal after that will be back to singing…. my favorite one!

Namaste, from the East Coast,

Samantha