National Yoga Awareness Month: Forget Normal
There is no normal. There is no new normal. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Sleepless nights with a newborn, I was wishing for “normal.” When my dad was in his motorcycle accident I wished everything would go back to “normal.” During the shutdown of the pandemic and the studio being closed I wished everything would go back to “normal.” Even now, there are so many things I wish were “normal.” “Normal” is forever different because of constant change, there is no normal. And, if there was could you actually define what it is? Is normal what you actually want, or do you want something that doesn’t even exist?
In this last week of National Month of Yoga, remembering that each thing you do creates change, but the best way to be is with flow. Remembering that yoga isn’t just about moving your body, it’s the way you live your life.
If you forgot your shoes for work, you wouldn’t have normal. If you forgot groceries, you would go out to eat, which would go against your normal. It’s time to take “normal” out of the equation and focus on creating flow.
Flow is when everything is working together seamlessly. In class this is defined as moving with breath, connecting the poses together in a single fluid movement. In life, flow is when everything clicks, you’re working, you’re creating, you’re living, you’re going, you’re feeling good, and you’re feeling challenged.
The difference between “normal” and “flow” is groundedness. Flow gives you the ability to be grounded in something, whereas normal leaves you feeling unstable when it’s not happening.
Ask yourself what you really are looking for or want when you refer to something as being “normal,” because you probably just want stability, which is where creating flow comes in.