Who do you want to be?

“Actions express priorities” – Gandhi

Do you ever look back on something you did 10 years ago and laugh at what you were wearing or doing and wonder, what was I thinking?

We humans are constantly evolving and growing and that’s one of the most fun things about life. It’s also something worth remembering, whether you’re in a wonderful moment or a terrible one – this too will pass. It can give us strength when things are hard and help us cherish the moments of pleasure.

One the themes that spring calls up for us is the question, who do I want to be right now? How do I want my life to be? You know you’re on the right path if you feel excited and in love with your life, or even just parts of it – life isn’t always perfect. 

Once we know this we con consider if our actions express our desires. For example, if you want to be calm and focussed, but you’re powering through the day on stress and coffee, how can you tweak you actions so they fit more closely with who you want to be?

Moving back to Melbourne after 8 years away really brought this home me. It gave me a kind of vertigo of where I’ve been, where I am now, and where I am headed. I’m telling you my story so you can see how how it works and how yours might look.

10 years ago I was studying and teaching yoga exactly the way my teachers had taught me. I hadn’t yet found my own voice. I was still homesick from a few years in London and I was working in the organic markets in south Melbourne, getting around by bicycle and quite a coffee snob. I had a collection of novelty socks and especially loved them striped and over the knees. 

5 years ago I was living in Brisbane, teaching yoga a few times a week but struggling with the corporate grind. I was learning how to apply my yoga learnings to my totally different life and learning how to assert myself. I was spending huge amounts of time at the beach, learned to deal with giant insects, and found I didn’t really ever need socks anymore.

This year, transition back. I’ve learned to wear socks again. It took quite a while for me to settle into my new normal. I wear yoga clothes all the time. My office is my living room and my film studio. I’ve tried a few different approaches to business and worked out exactly what I have to offer and to share with the world. I’ve reconnected with old friends and met some amazingly cool new ones.

All of this to say – I am very excited for the future and keep your eyes peeled for some very cool offerings I’m developing for you!

It’s totally possible, wherever we are, so start again in whatever way we need to. Who do you want to be today?

Lots of love

Ruth

Why You Should Come on a Mini Retreat!

Have you ever reached a point in your life, when just when you think things can’t get more stressful, something else happens?

If you had been with me a couple of years ago you would have seen me living the corporate dream. I was working for a university, setting up a national research network. What had started out as a wild idea had become a full blow thing and a showcase piece for the university.  Suddenly I was presenting at the top level, to CEOs and university VCs, travelling and speaking. And to be honest I was very much winging it. 

I had also just moved back in with my husband after a period of separation, and it wasn’t going well.

During the separation I had been trying to figure out my life. I had done my first two silent retreats and had been shocked at what they gave me – a sense of clarity and peace and knowing exactly what I wanted in life.

Because I was so inspired, and because I can never do things by halves, I’d applied to train to study with the founder of the retreats, Sara Avant Stover.

Sara is everything you would expect in a yoga High Priestess. Calm, serene, beautiful and a little aloof. When I applied, I had so little expectation I’d succeed that I figured I’d work out how I would manage if it happened, (let alone how to get to Colorado for the final live training!) and forgotten about it. I was sure I was not what they were looking for. I wasn’t a full time teacher, I taught unconventional yoga to people in offices, and I was deliberately fun and unserious.  

Imagine my shock when I did, the first person in the southern hemisphere. And because it is a spiritual lineage, it was rigorous. At the start there were 9 of us. 2 of us made it through.

My stress levels were through the roof!

I knew that this training was powerful, had transformed my life and could transform the lives of people I shared it with. But I felt like a complete fraud, stressed out of my brain and with my personal life in tatters.

What could I do? I dived in. I got up at 5 am every day. I dumped my resistance to the quieter practices of yin yoga and mediation and gave myself wholeheartedly to the course. And waited for things to collapse around me. The amazing thing was, they didn’t. In fact, I was so calm and focused that thing started to go better.

What I learned was that when we do the quieter practices, even when we are at our wits end, too stressed, too broke, too busy – it gives back rather than depleting us. The very thing we resist are exactly what we need.

These days I do my own mini retreats and online challenges. I have no shame in telling everyone they should practice, because I know that no matter where you are at, practicing will enhance your life.  

Wanna dip your toes in, with me to hold your hand but no MAJOR commitment? Join the Spring Self Care mini challenge

Want to go deeper and experience a deep refresh and recalibration? Come to a mini retreat (sign up here)

Ready to really create a shift in your life every day? Work with me privately to tailor the perfect practice for every aspect of your wellbeing. Book here

As always, lots of love

Ruth