Speed Limit 35

I am not sure exactly when this happened or why it did now upon my turning 45 years old but I recently realized that most drivers are not paying attention on the road. I included myself in that group until this past June. We drive too fast. We are unpredictable in our movements. We multitask. We are not present.

If you are already a safe driver then please ignore my group statement. I thank you for your safety on the road while I have been half asleep at the wheel.

What I have finally come to realize is that accidents happen when someone is not paying attention. In the blink of an eye a life or lives can be ruined. All it takes is one unpredictable move or accelerating through a yellow light. One time. That’s it.

There will always be drivers that are not paying attention and I don’t want to be that person. I’ve worked too hard in my practice of becoming more mindful to throw it away on a stupid cell phone call or song change.

This realization has overwhelmed me this past month. I have awoken, so to speak. I have slowed down. I am driving the speed limit and stopping at the Stop Sign not 5 feet in front of it. I am not taking cell phone calls in my car. I am trying to pay attention.

I often say in class at Verge that our yoga practice creates steadiness in the mind so that we can make conscious decisions. There is more mental space after a yoga practice. It is in that space that we find the time to move and speak more mindfully.

Perhaps I have slowed down enough in my yoga practice to recognize how I am moving out there on the roads. Perhaps turning 45 years old has helped me recognize the fragility of my life. Who knows? All I know is that I feel better more peaceful in the car. It is a new practice for me. I call it Mindfulness Driving.

Hopefully this blog will encourage you to observe your driving style. Perhaps you have always been safe. Maybe you need a little nudge. Like I said, I am not sure why this awakening happened now, I am just grateful that it did.

Peace.

Cara

The Power of Now

Our minds are like muscles. At any given moment, we are either mentally weak and limp or mentally strong and focused. Like physical muscles, our minds can be trained to become stronger and more useful to us.

There is huge power in Mental Strength Training. When our minds are strong, stable and clear, we are “present” in what we are doing. When present, we are more peaceful and easier to be around. We learn to speak with clarity and conviction. When present, we connect deeply with others. We are able to influence and lead others from a deep and authentic state. From this powerful state of being, we have access to the tools needed to rally our team of co-workers around our message and vision.

When you feel stressed, recognize that you in a weakened state of mind. Stress is the result of too many thoughts barraging our minds at one time. Too much planning, worrying, and replaying stimulates the stress mechanism sending our nerves and emotions into a frenzy. Bottom line, when we are stressed, we have no power or influence.

The good news is that we can train our minds, our mental muscles, to become “stress-free”. With some practice, we learn to slow down our minds and clear away useless and repetitive thoughts. The result is that we rise above the level of stress and instead of just trying to manage it.

There are a few simple exercises in our Mental Strength Training Model:

1. Focus on the Breath
2. Observe Thought
3. Sit in Silence
4. Accept this Moment

When our minds are strong and focused we have access to great power and intuition. We just seem to know what to say and what to do. Mental Strength Training helps us become more fully engaged in the now. I am confident in saying that understanding the potential and power of being here now can change your lives just as it has mine.

Peace.

Cara

A Rose by any other Name

You may have noticed over the past few weeks that we have changed the name of our yoga center to simply Verge Yoga.

While we opened our doors five years ago as Verge Power Yoga, the focus of our classes has since shifted from a faster-paced, more complicated practice to a yoga practice based on simplicity and mindfulness.

The shift of focus at Verge over the past few years has evolved naturally alongside the collective shift in global thinking from big, fast growth to simple, steady growth.

As I often say in class, our practice reflects the way in which we live. If we continue to move quickly on our mats, we will continue to move quickly in our lives. As we learn to practice yoga with precision and mindfulness, we will learn to move through our days more consciously.

So, as Shakespeare famously wrote, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Our change of name to Verge Yoga is a subtle shift of perception. Our classes remain just as "sweet"... simple, mindful and powerful. As always, it is our intention to offer you a community in which you can unblock, unfold and unleash your power and innate wisdom.

To tweet or not to tweet...

that is the question.

So I’ve been hearing about Twitter for the past few months and I just couldn’t wrap my arms around it. First of all, why would anyone want to broadcast their daily routine and thoughts out to the world? My first opinion of Twitter without having ever gone on to the site was that it was another ego-based, self indulgent application.

Last week, with some prodding from my techie husband, I joined the world of Twitters. I sheepishly posted a short profile (see below) and my first “tweet”. (basically just a text message to my followers of which I had none)

Then, through some simple searches, I found a couple of interesting folks out there to follow, Lance Armstrong, Tony Robbins, Steven Covey and Time Magazine. And I waited.

The tweets started coming in. I received a quote from Steven Covey, some current events from Time, a reflection from Lance Armstrong about his ride that day in Aspen. Pretty cool, I thought. Connection and union, isn’t that what yoga is about? And so I posted another innocent tweet and hit send.

Within 48 hours I had 15 followers. Included were people from the around the globe that I never met and couple that I know. Again, pretty cool.

Still not completely sold on it, I spent some time on a recent hike pondering how to use this application not as a way to tell people about my fairly uneventful life but rather to connect with yoga students from Verge Power Yoga and beyond. What would I want to share with others?

Well, in class, I often talk about “bridging” your yoga practice to your daily life. I call it, Yoga off the Mat 101. There are so many rich opportunities in our daily lives to practice yoga so why not name them? Why not talk about them? Why not “tweet” them?

I know that my challenges are probably your challenges. Your moments of glory are probably my moments of glory. Let’s connect and tweet about it!

You follow me and I’ll follow you. Yoga off the Mat 101! I realize that there can only be good that comes from connecting with yogis around the world.

So check out www.twitter.com and follow me @caraverge (that’s my id)

Peace.

Cara Bradley, soccer mom, yoga teacher, trying to keep the ball in the air every day.

Simple and Steady

I always seem to get “gung-ho” at this time of the year. I get so excited for the transition into spring that I often exhaust myself. I am quick to put the winter clothes away, get the rake to the yard and throw open every window in the house even when it is still 40 degrees outside.

This year I am trying a new approach. I intend to apply my yoga practice to my life and try to gracefully transition into the spring season. Honestly, I don’t have the energy to exhaust myself anymore. (I think that is a good sign.)

For the past month or so my intention on my mat has been to be “simple and steady”. During practice, this intention reminds me to slow down and to move deliberately. It reminds me to be content with whatever pose is offered and to then transition gracefully into the next pose. By focusing on the simplicity of the movements, I’ve experienced more space in my body and my mind.

Now, applying this to my real yoga practice, my non-Verge life, will be more challenging. Simple and Steady. One project at a time. One step at a time. One moment at a time.

Wish me luck.

Glimpsing the Grandeur

Most of our energy goes into upholding our importance. If we were capable of losing some of that importance, two extraordinary things would happen to us. One, we would free our energy from trying to maintain the illusory idea of our grandeur; and two, we would provide ourselves with enough energy to catch a glimpse of the actual grandeur of the universe. ~ Carlos Casteneda

There have been moments while teaching this past month when I have been reminded of Casteneda's powerful quote. In those moments, I dropped into a place where I felt that I was able to "glimpse the grandeur of the universe". The grandeur seemed to reside in the collective energy of the students in the class. It was their focus, their commitment to their practices and their sweet breath that joined together to help hold a moment in time for me. I froze for that moment it took my breath away.

It was in those precious unforeseen moments that I felt a surge of courage to step out of my own importance. I dropped my role as "yoga teacher" and in so doing, I simply became a guide of breath and movement. And it was then that the universe took over and time stood still. I stood still in awe of the pureness of the moment.

We talk about being present in every class at Verge Power Yoga. We remind each other of the task at hand, the mental strength building and the cultivating of mindfulness. We mention the perils of being ego-centric, too chatty or too mentally busy. Yet we continue to create more stories to carry around with us 24/7.

But, as I have experience this month, it may not be until we stand still in a moment bathed in grace that we recognize how small we really are when stuck in our own importance. It may not be until we drop who we think we are that we can actually be still and glimpse that true self. And, it is during that very same moment that we can glimpse the grandeur of how large we can be when we drop our stories.

I continue to wrap my arms around this quote. While I still have much work to do, I am learning that the more I can drop my story, the more I can lose my own sense of importance and the more I will have the “energy to catch a glimpse of the actual grandeur of the universe". Let me tell you, it is so worth the ride.

And the journey continues…

Peace.

Cara

Just Press the Pause Button

I just finished a fantastic book called, Radical Acceptance, by Tara Brach. This book and teacher was highly recommended by my meditation teacher Scott McBride of ClearLight Meditation. I take his suggestions very seriously.

One of the quotes that impacted me so greatly from the book was the following: "The sacred pause is the gateway to the path of awakening."

I was thrilled to read that since I have been working "the pause" in my classes for the past few months. I’ve found that it is a pause not a movement that allows me to directly experience myself and my connection to others. I’ve found that it is the pause at the end of the exhale or the peak of the inhale when I feel most alive. In meditation, I find that it is the pause and space between thoughts that allows me to feel the penetration of the divine.

Since my surgery in November, my life has become more “pause” and less speed. I really like the way that it feels. My intention to keep strengthening my ability to pause in my life as my foot heals and I begin to move around in the world more easily. It is so easy to go back to sleep.

As a teacher, I've been offering many more pauses in my classes. We can pause in high plank or in child’s pose. We can pause at the end of an inhale or exhale. As we strengthen our ability to pause on our yoga mats, we will begin to practice pausing in our lives.

We can learn to pause before we speak or react. That is where the good stuff starts to happen. Pausing and becoming more mindful of our words and actions is a life changing practice for sure.

I invite you to start small. Trying pausing your mind by taking a few deep breaths at red lights or while waiting for your emails to download.

The pause is, as Tara Brach wrote, the gateway to the path of awakening. That is enough to get me to press that pause button in every area of my life.

Peace.

Cara

Peend trying it.