When we can get out of our heads and into the moment. That is where the magic happens.

Isn’t it amazing how we can be so involved with what our minds are chatting or complaining about, that we are no longer in the moment? Literally so obsessed with our thoughts, that an illusionary veil gets pulled over our eyes and we stop experiencing what is right in front of us.

It’s like we’ve been abducted! Except the kidnapper is our mind.

I recently noticed myself experiencing this, right in the middle of my yoga practice.

Eye’s focused, “I thought so and so was going to teach today?”

Sweat dripping, “When is she going to play music?”

Breathing in, “I thought this was for beginners?” exhaling out, “I should have just taken the earlier class.”

On and on it continued, until I hear my other voice practically yell, “Stop!”

I had to get ahold of myself! What was supposed to be a relaxing learning session, was now turning into a mental workout.

No sooner did I finish this internal dialogue, that the teacher allowed us to rest. While some of us fell into child’s pose, others toweled off and took sips of their water.

“You’ll noticed I do not use music, that is so I can hear you breathing,” the teacher’s voice broke the silence, “You– should hear you breathing. It is important for you to follow your breath and be present.”

I looked up from my mat as she continued.

“Not all teachers are the same, so you should try them all, but you may find, the practices you like the least, are the ones you need the most.” With her peaceful smile she placed her hands to her mat, rolled back into her perfect downward dog and told us to find our way there.

Is it possible my internal dialogue was so loud, that she too could hear it? No–

Yet, what she said, I heard loud and clear.

In that moment, I allowed myself to be in the present; accepting everything just as it was and focused on my breathing.

After class was over, it wasn’t until that night that I really reflected on what I had learned that day. It wasn’t at all what I had expected, it was so much more.

I realized, that same useless chatter that was holding me back from being present in class, was the same chatter that prevented me from being present in life.

We all do this.

All the nag-nag-nag of: We should know more by now or how is this going to work out? When will we be doing that, instead of this? The truth is: we simply can not change what is, and hiding in our minds obsessing about it, isn’t going to help us either.

Breath.

Let us allow ourselves to be present. Accepting everything as it is, focusing less on our thoughts and more on our breath. Every time we feel ourselves getting whisked away by our never-ending, always present, thoughts in our minds, we need to remember this lesson:

“Not all lessons are the same, so we should experience them all, but we may find, the lessons we like the least, are the ones we need most of all.”

We need to peel our minds away from our thoughts and focus on our breathing. Forcing ourselves back into our bodies and into the present moment because we are here, in this moment, just as it is.

This life is not always what we were expecting. Sometimes we are given teachers and lessons that we’d rather not have. Situations we’d rather run from then take on, and there will still be times when we wish we had music to block it all out.

Yet sometimes, we need the silence.

So we can hear ourselves breathing, to know that we are alive.

I think we would all be amazed at the lessons revealed, in our every day lives, by our least expecting teachers, if we could just get out of our heads and into the moment. The present moment is always there patiently waiting for us, we just need to stop and acknowledge it. It is in those moments of silence, that we can truly find peace.

I hope we can all take a moment, in this moment, to find it.

Write back soon, love Annie

Featured Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash