Talking truth about "self improvement" as it relates to health, overall wellness and expressing the truest version of you. This is Marta Mrotek with Something Honest…..

Did you hear what I just said right there?.. That part about expressing the truest version of you? I hope you know that I’m not just throwing that out there because I like the way it sounds. That REALLY is the point of everything we’re doing here and something that most of us have to work on all the time. I know because I have to work on it all the time too. I honestly don’t know why it’s so hard for us to stay connected with that really intensely tapped in part of ourselves. But I do know that for me it takes consistently focused practice…

Today we’re going to be working on the Humility Practice Challenge and really the first part of another three-part process. This time we’re going to start working on the integration of the outer physical experience and the inner more spiritual experience. And so much of this has to do with the way you see yourself, becoming more self-aware, and how you can start seeing the real you, and even more important, how you can start expressing the real you on a regular basis.

If you listened to the podcast for Willingness Practice, you’ll be able to follow along with what we’re about to talk about here pretty easily. If not, if any of this sounds confusing you might want to go back and listen to that one first. We’re going to pick up king of where we left off with yoga story time and a little more of my spin on how physical posturing, or even if you never assume poses, at least the meaning behind those physical images, can help you paint a clear picture of the energy that you already possess and how you can use it to express your True Self. So, before we start, I’ve got just a couple of general disclaimers. The first one is going back, again, to your personal beliefs. And I only keep repeating this because I think it comes up for so many people. Whether you have really stringent religious convictions or none at all this can still make sense for you. If you’re on one end of that spectrum where listening to stories about Hindu gods is in some way disturbing, doesn’t line up with what you believe, or on the other one where any talk about God is dismissed, I just want you to know that this is meant to be an illustration. When I talk about making an energetic connection, especially when I’m talking about this principle, I’m mostly talking about you making a connection with you. Just a part of you that you don’t really pay attention to most of the time.  I really do believe that everyone has a part of themselves that is always, you know, plugged in. I think everybody has some kind of inner knowing and an inner truth that’s available all the time. And it’s not that IT ever disappears, it’s just that we stop looking at it and we stop listening to it and pretty soon we stop feeling it or expressing it on a regular basis. It doesn’t disappear it just gets covered up and we can just kind of start forgetting about it. Everything we’re doing here today is about remembering it.

The second part of that disclaimer is just about me, in relationship to that last one, not so much as a teacher, but just as person. I know sometimes when I’m listening to someone who really seems like they’ve got their shit together I can start drifting off into wondering if they have any idea how hard it is for me to do what they so easily recommend. And I know that I do the same thing, I mean it really is easy for me to tell you what I think you should do. Easy to give the advice, right? And sometimes we find out that some of those teachers really might not be practicing what they preach. Maybe people that we find really inspiring, or even people that we think are really spiritual, and all of the sudden something leaks out into the public that really knocks them down from that pedestal in our eyes. And whenever that happens, instead of getting disappointed in one of those people that I’ve been admiring, I try really hard to think about my own struggles and how often I have to regroup and even start over again to keep my own head straight and keep my own life in order. You can know what to do and still have a hard time doing it sometimes. It is that really smart plugged in part of me that knows what to do and hopefully, most of the time that’s the part that’s doing most of the talking here. But I know that it really doesn’t take much for us to lose that connection and that it doesn’t take all that long for us fall back into those old thought patterns and that those patterns almost always take us back to old, sometimes unhealthy behavior. Working this principle is kind of like walking on a tightrope. There’s a fine line between knowing what’s true, being able to talk about it and explore it, what’s behind the painful stuff, and falling into the painful stuff completely. When life gets hard it’s easy to start dwelling on everything that’s wrong. Everything that’s wrong around us and everything that feels like it’s wrong inside of us. It’s easy to start focusing on the flaws.  I know it’s easy for ME to start focusing on the flaws. It’s easy for me to start thinking and even talking about everything that’s wrong. Often that’s in an attempt to understand what’s happening or to understand myself, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing… But again, it’s pretty easy to lose your balance when you’re walking on that wire and sometimes we have to very intentionally pull ourselves up and into that higher perspective.

So, today’s story and certainly today’s seated practice is focused on strengthening that connection with that very best, super smart, totally tapped in part of you.

Last time we started here with some Sanskrit words that relate to this story and the names for the warrior poses. Specifically, for our purposes today, the rise of the warrior and even more specifically, a warrior named Virabhadra, an avatar, or incarnation of Shiva. This week we’re going to talk about a pose called Baddha Virabhadrasana, translated as Bound Warrior Pose, or more commonly here in the west, Humble Warrior. And I think you should know that there are two camps in yogic circles about whether that name makes any sense or not. The first camp says that it’s an oxymoron, that there’s no way that works because Virabhadra, if you remember, is a total badass and he would never allow himself to be humbled. And if you look at the posture itself, you can get a visual of me doing it on the Something Honest Instagram account, you’ll see that he is very obviously bowing here with his arms bound behind his back. Completely defenseless and subservient. So, they say that in general the name and the image would misrepresent that character. But there is another camp, and it’s the one that I personally agree with, that says that Virabhadra bows to no one but his God. And I’d go even further here, back to the idea that we don’t even have to get in anyway religious about this, and say that our hero friend is actually part of Shiva. Shiva is this warrior’s higher Self.  an avatar, he’s bound to and gains all of his power, wisdom and strength from connecting with that, with his true nature. He always has access to everything, to all of it, because that’s who he really is…

Physical Practice

And if we want to talk about the pose itself, whether you plan to work on the physical posturing or not, it starts in Warrior I, getting ready, with a really solid foundation. Super grounded and totally aligned and reaching. And you can find a visual for that one on Instagram too if you scroll down to the Integrity Episodes… and from that position, reach down behind your back and then you see if you can interlace your fingers. That’s baddha hasta, bound hands, and with an inhale you look up, and lift the chest, opening up the heart space, with warrior energy rising. And with the exhale, keeping those strong legs, bow all the way down as low as you can, pulling your head down toward the floor and letting your arms pull up over your head. And there’s a whole lot of surrender right here. Surrendering to what is, understanding it, knowing what yours to change and accepting anything that you can’t. But there’s also a whole lot of strength. And I sat stay there at least for a couple of breaths just affirming that connection. And when you’re ready to come back up again make sure you’re still grounding really actively through the feet, make sure the legs are fully engaged, maintaining the integrity of the posture as you rise up. And to me, there is something uniquely powerful, a different kind of power, and a different perspective on the concept of surrender that can be found in rising up here even stronger than you were before.

We’re going to take a quick break here. We’ll back in two minutes or less, but you’ll want to find a comfortable place to sit and anything else you might need to get ready for the Humility Practice.

We’re back and working on the first part of what eventually becomes another three-part practice, this time with our intentions set on the process of Integration. And that starts here with an Incorporation Ritual that can be helpful for seeing every part of yourself clearly and remembering who you are... If you don’t already have it get your journal and a comfortable place to sit. At least for the next few principles the seated practice for energy work will actually include the mediation so this is kind of an all in one.

Incorporation Ritual

So if you’ve got everything you need get yourself settled sitting with a straight spine, sitting tall, maybe taking a couple of breaths to work on the idea of grounding by feeling any of those heavy spots where your body meets the floor, or if you’re sitting in a chair still working on that really good seated posture and contact points with the chair. Reaching up through the crown of head, but not lifting the chin, trying to keep your chin either parallel with the floor over even maybe just slightly tucked. Shoulders relaxed but back and down, and the chest slightly lifted and open. And once you feel comfortable here you can start with the hands resting on the knees or thighs and you can choose whether you’d like to have the palms facing up, maybe if you’re focused on bringing your energy levels up or facing down for decreasing any energy that feels overactive or hectic.

 Okay… if you’re all ready to go we’re going back to pretending again? Just practicing for sometime when you really need this, and imagining that you just noticed a seemingly negative thought, emotion or physical reaction that points to something about you that might feel like a flaw or characteristic that is showing up as information that something needs to change. Once again, this doesn’t have to feel like a huge thing or even something that feels specifically negative. As a matter of fact, I’d also like to point out that you can also use this when you notice something really good about you that you’d like to grow and affirm. But this time we’ll use an example that might relate to self-esteem, maybe feeling like you’re not enough, feeling unloved or excluded in some way, or even in relationship to areas of life where you might be acting out in a prideful way or where you notice that your own ego is out of control. This is also a great place to look for anything that might feel like imposter syndrome, or just anything in your life or personal behavior that just doesn’t feel like you expressing the real you... And as soon as something comes to mind, you’d stop what you were doing, and if you can, close your eyes and take a big deep breath. Just a big breath in through the nose and an audible exhale through the mouth. Remember, you can do this next part mentally with your eyes open if you must, but if your eyes are closed and your hands are free, we’re going to start again by rubbing the palms of the hands together… Once again, this does work best from a seated positions but do what you can no matter what position you’re in. Breathing normally, start increasing the amount of friction between the hands, adding a little extra muscle and a little extra effort until they start to get hot. And when it feels right hold them out in front of your chest like you’re holding that big glowing ball of Energy. And exactly like we’ve done before, while the sensation is still strong see if you can manipulate the edges of that energetic ball. Just moving the energy around, maybe even pressing in slowly, just slightly at first, moving in slow small increments, mentally condensing that energetic ball, this time squeezing out any of that stuff that doesn’t line up with who you really are, know that it doesn’t define you and that it’s just not serving you anymore. Breathing as you move the hands toward center, reminding yourself that it’s okay if the sensation starts to fade, and eventually feeling the fingertips touch, readjusting to line them up if you need to, and holding both hands close to your chest as if you were holding something very precious close to your heart. And we’ll take a big breath here just to affirm all of the really good things about you. So, breathe in deeply and exhale completely. With your next inhale flatten out the palms so the hands are together at the center of the chest, palms pressed, all of the fingers lined up in that prayerlike position…. and a big exhale here to hold. Breathing in now spread the fingers out with palms still pressed and as you exhale interlace the fingers so that they’re bound together. Some say that for women the right pinky stays on the bottom, and for men, it's the left. But I think you should just do whatever feels most comfortable unless you’re working on something very specifically related to male or female energy. At first the hands are bound tightly pressing the palms together at the center of the chest.. And when you’ve got it just how you want it bring the hands in close, taking three really slow deep breaths... Start with empty lungs and breathe in deeply... Hold just for a second at the top of the breath... and there a long soft sigh, audible but gentle… Next breath, feeling the space at the bottom of the breath… breathing in with more intention filling the low belly first and moving the air all the way up to the collarbones feeling the chest lift and holding longer allowing the energy to build… and this time the exhale is more forceful, pushing all the air out completely. Last breath, making it the best one, breathing in deeply, lungs expanding out in every direction, squeezing in just a little more air at the top.. and holding for as long as you can, dropping into that space at the top of the breath… and when you let it go, really let it go, everything spills… Breathing in and out through the nose we’ll set our intention here, “I am humbled in the recognition of my true nature.” Stay here breathing, connecting with whatever feels true about you… All the really good stuff...  connecting with the very best of you and feeling it…

Resolving now by bringing the hands down to rest in your lap, making an open space between the palms, the inside thumb gently pressing that kind of fleshy part between the other thumb and the index finger… Still really tapped into that part of you that feels real, and whole, without any concern for what might seem like flaws… That really smart part of you that knows you don’t have any defects, just some pointers to what you need to do to line up with who you REALLY are.. The part of you that knows love.. that IS love.. that feels loved… and worthy of love… the kind that doesn’t have any conditions or limitations… The kind that comes from something really huge and brilliant inside you… And tell yourself, regardless of outside circumstances, “I am happy…”  And just let that sink in for second as you breathe… and if for any reason that doesn’t feel entirely true... consider your current situation, right now. If you’re in a relatively safe space, there is at least some amount of happiness available so connect with it…. Now telling yourself, “I am healthy…” again knowing that any physical or mental limitations are really just challenges to be explored, that you’re at least healthy enough to take a slow deep breath and getting stronger all the time… Next, “I am peaceful…” even if there’s something going on in your life that feels like a struggle, even if your right there in the middle of the storm, you’re learning to move your attention to that quiet place inside where there’s always some amount of peace to be found… And finally, “I am wealthy…” Whatever that means to you… grateful for whatever you’ve got.. believing in the possibility of something more and working toward a new understanding of what’s really important.

And asking now… for anything that doesn’t line up with all that really good stuff to be removed. Thinking of that asking as an invitation to your True Self, as an affirmation of your true nature, and just the very beginning of an expression of the real you.  And take a few breaths here to let that sink in... Strengthening that image of the truest version of you.. Letting the breath move naturally, not trying to control it. Noticing, any energetic shift, any shift in attitude. Affirming any healing that might have happened or might still be happening… Recognizing any change in your state or shift in perspective and allowing any information that floats to the surface... Taking special note of what you’re feeling now. Maybe take a moment to mentally or verbally affirm your intentions. Maybe just to love yourself a little more… be a little nicer to yourself… or study yourself more deeply... or gain a deeper understanding of yourself… Staying here until you recognize the desire to move. But not moving just yet. And this time asking yourself, “What can I do to express myself more authentically? Or make a deeper connection with the real me?” Always looking at that next right thing. Knowing that there is a Higher Version of you that can guide you…. Taking all the information that you’ve already got and embracing this constant state of becoming who you were always meant to be… And when it feels right, open your eyes, do it slowly. See if you can hold still here for another breath or two and if you have your practice journal nearby pick up your pen and write about your experience.

We’ve been using prompts to help you explore a little further for this one we’ve fot, “What do I know about myself and the Highest Truth about me?”  Taking as much time as you need to write about everything that you’ve learned about this principle and the idea of incorporation.

Exploring ideas for making this part of your regular practice, and maybe taking some of what you’ve learned about setting up starting triggers that can remind you when you need to work on becoming more self-aware.

If you’re ready wrap things up we’re going to go back to the Challenge Question for Humility one more time…

Challenge Question

We’ve been asking, ““What’s the real truth about you?” And I hope that the work we’ve been doing with this principle has given you a little more incite on how to answer that question by looking not just at those things that might need changing, but being able to study yourself and see what might need to be accepted and most of all acknowledging all that really great stuff that needs to grow and be expressed.

We’ve got a link in the description for the Something Honest Instagram if you’d like a visual reference for todays pose so go check that. We’re always looking for follows, likes and most of all your comments so we can connect in a more personal way.

I want to thank you all so much for listening. Be sure you’re all set up to get notifications and come back next week to start on the Love Principle.

Check out the description to find the links for show notes on the podcast page and go to wellnessmeetings.com for more about the Wellness Meetings Method….. Something Honest is a Wellness Meetings production with original music composed and produced by James Mrotek at Mrotek Media.

This is Marta Mrotek sending out all kinds of love and so much gratitude. Until next time, let’s all get to work on being well!