How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything
Do you feel like you're able to find presence in any given moment or are you struggling most days to feel like you're getting everything done? In this video, I share a bit of my store about how I used to be focused on doing, never able to slow down but found my way to find presence over all my doing. I'll also lead you through a 5-minute calming meditation to help you find presence right now. (Meditation starts at 6:24 if you want to skip to that!) This track contains ambient sounds in the background
Transcript
Hey friends!
I wanted to come on and chat about how you do one thing is how you do most things.
This concept,
Actually,
We don't really know the origination of this concept,
But it has been wholly adopted culturally.
We think it comes from a Zen Buddhist background and it is something that I practice and truly believe in,
Even in my yoga practice and as my yoga teacher.
For those of you who don't know me,
I'm Emi,
Photographer here at Celebrate Again,
Beauty hunter,
Celebrator,
Encourager,
And yoga teacher.
My mission here at Celebrate Again is to create a life full of celebration.
I believe that every moment needs celebration and also regularly in our lives.
Something interesting I wanted to share with you all and talk to you all about is how,
As a photographer,
I found the need for me to slow down,
Be pretty necessary.
So,
When I'm shooting,
I just get so caught up in the moment,
I get so excited for everything that's happening,
And I just go too quickly.
I throw everything out the window and just keep shooting to capture the moment.
Oftentimes,
There's divine magic behind my shooting because sometimes I'm like,
I was not paying attention to any of the rules you're supposed to pay attention to,
And things work out.
But the moment I slow down and I get intentional is when beauty starts to come out of that combination of slowing down but also staying in the moment.
And so that's something that I've really tried to bring into my life more.
I used to be super hyper person and kind of wild in some ways and really fast paced,
And I still am super fast paced and my brain moves super fast.
But I've discovered this need to slow down.
And so,
Doing yoga,
Specifically restorative yoga and meditation has really helped me and that's something I love to encourage and bring others who like me who actually hated yoga first into my yoga teaching.
And so,
I started to slow down in my yoga practice and honestly it was forced to slow down with my chronic illnesses that I have.
I was forced to take a step back and I couldn't do these crazy wild activities anymore and even in yoga I couldn't practice really fast.
And so,
I had to slow down and do more restorative yoga.
And this pushed my whole body into slowness.
And I noticed then I was slowing down in my life.
I used to be rushed doing everything.
I'm rushed to get out the door and I still can be rushed to do everything and just this anxiety creeps up when you feel rushed and you're hurried and you're rushing through your yoga class,
You're rushing through your fitness,
You're rushing through work,
You're rushing through cooking dinner,
You're rushing through everything.
And you realize you've missed everything.
And that's something that I don't want my life to be and I don't want that for anyone either.
So,
This whole concept of how you do one thing is to how you do everything has really pushed me into choosing presence over accomplishment.
And that's something that I wanted to share with you all and really bring in to reality and this concept that,
You know,
When you practice one thing intentionally you're going to practice doing all things intentionally.
So,
There's this whole piece of yoga that is calling you to intentionality and that's something as a teacher that I really love to step into with my students and love to help us practice that.
Like,
Are you rushing through life trying to just do things?
Can you slow down on your mat?
Let that be the place you start.
Let that be the place you plant the seed of slowing down and showing up intentionally to all of your life.
And you'll start to notice you can take a step back and see you're starting to slow down in everything in life.
And for me that the greatest gift that has been is slowing down and noticing little things.
I've always been a beauty hunter.
I've always been floored by every sunset of every day,
Or just noticing the little things in life,
But I've noticed as I stepped in this intentionality on my yoga mat first,
Of slowing down,
I started to notice more beauty in everyday life.
Out here in Oregon,
Just the raindrops sparkling and the little bit of sunshine that's out peeking through the clouds.
The birds outside our window,
How green it is in freaking January.
Just those little things,
The sound of my daughter's laughter just soaking those things up that make up life.
Whereas,
I was so rushed to do the next thing to be accomplished and the next thing that I missed out on those moments.
And so that's something I really wanted to just bring to your attention too.
And with everything that I'm about here at Celebrate Again,
It's not just teaching,
But also encouraging and giving you a practical tool to do this for yourself.
So,
I do offer free yoga classes on CelebrateAgain.
Org and I have a membership too that will be launching in the coming weeks,
But in the time right now,
I have these beautiful star lights that actually was my daughter's Christmas present I'm borrowing.
And I just want to lead you all through meditation so if you don't have another five minutes you can hop off and just bookmark this and I will,
You can save it for later for before bed but if you have a few minutes,
Plug your headphones in,
And let's just do a quick little meditation you don't need anything,
You can lay down,
You can sit back in your chair,
Get cozy on a couch.
If you need to hide away from small children,
Run to the bathroom real quick,
It's a good sanctuary,
Wherever you need to go,
Just get yourself cozy.
And just find a posture that feels good,
It can help to have your spine straight so I know a lot of times we get on the phone and we're like hunched over.
If you can just find some straightness in your spine and this just helps the flow of energy and our oxygen reach all the right and juicy places.
So whenever you're there just come to that spot,
And then if it feels safe to you,
You can close your eyes,
Or you can just come to a soft gaze just maybe even staring at the screen,
Staring at the stars I have in the background moving.
And just come to notice where your breath is.
Oftentimes our breath just feel like stuck in our throat,
In our chest.
Just notice where it is today,
Where is it landing and maybe you are super intentional breather already and you got that belly breath going and kudos,
Kudos for that.
I think for most of us,
We live in this top portion of our lungs.
That makes us feel anxious a lot of time.
So let's tap into this vagus nerve running along our spine,
Down the center of our body,
And it'll help us relax and really be present right now.
So go ahead and just start to notice if you can expand your breath into your rib cage on an inhale.
Expand your breath in your ribs,
Exhaling,
Pulling your ribs in.
Your next inhale,
See if you can notice expanding through your belly and don't be afraid to let your belly be beautiful and round.
So often our culture teaches us that our bellies have to be flat,
But we are 3D people.
So embrace that full belly breath.
Enjoy those stretchy yoga pants I know you're wearing at home.
They're glorious for deep belly breath.
Good.
Now we're going to do a little bit of a containment breath.
Don't worry,
It's not anything scary.
So on your next inhale,
Inhale to a count of four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Hold at the top.
Exhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Good.
Inhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Hold at the top.
Exhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Good.
Inhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Hold at the top.
Exhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Hold at the top.
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Hold at the top.
Exhale,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Good.
You can pause here.
Keep that breath going if you want or just come to notice your breath a little bit deeper and longer.
So if you want to continue on your own,
You can do four.
Inhale,
Pause for one or two seconds and exhale for six.
Or just come back to a slow cadence in your breath.
Keeping that deep belly breath.
On the inhale,
Letting it expand,
Letting your rib cage expand.
Exhale,
Letting it contract.
Good.
And let's see a little bit of a body scan just to help our body come into our full presence.
Come to fully relax.
Start at the top of our head.
Just notice if your eyebrows are up or clenching tight.
See if you can just soften them and relax on an exhale.
Just come to notice your jaw.
Oftentimes we keep it pretty clenched.
See if you can just soften your jaw,
Maybe part your lips.
Drop the tongue from the roof of your mouth.
Let it rest in the bed of your teeth.
Just check in with your neck and rock it side to side,
Just letting it loose a little bit.
Whatever feels good in your body.
Bring your shoulders up and down,
Do a little bit of shoulder rolls for one ear up to the other ear.
Just relax them down on an exhale.
Just notice your hands maybe clench your fists and let it go.
Clench your fists,
Let it go and just relax your fingers.
Keeping that deep breath,
Softening your abdomen.
Maybe clench your glutes and let them go.
Good.
Now your thighs,
Calves softening.
Just wiggle your toes and let them soften.
Just take a moment to notice how you feel.
Just the softness in your body.
The gentleness.
The ease.
You feel a little bit of a weight coming down from being so tense.
Feel free to just turn off your phone.
Silence means stay here as long as you can,
As long as you want.
Stay in this peace you've created for yourself.
Just calm this presence overdoing.
You are enough right here,
Right now in your being.
You are valuable.
You're seen.
When you feel ready,
Feel free to wiggle your fingers and toes.
Noticing the ground or the surface you're sitting or laying on.
It's been holding you up without you trying.
What a beautiful gift that is.
And when you're ready,
Just bring your eyes open.
Soft gaze.
All right.
I hope that was beautiful and relaxing for you all.
I do have other meditations on my website and yoga videos.
If you want to enjoy those,
Head to CelebrateAgain.
Org forward slash free dash yoga.
Or just drop a comment,
Send me a message.
Love to chat with you all.
Love to hear how you feel about how you do one thing is how you do anything.
I look forward to connecting with you all.
And I will see you all again soon.
I hope you have a lovely rest of your day.
Bye.
