Endings Can Lead to New Ways of Living

Today the the structures that I have had in place during the Level 4 and Level 3 lockdown periods in New Zealand are beginning to crumble as businesses are locating back to their physical premises. This will include yoga studios so today was the last Zoom class from Yin Yoga NZ. These zoom classes have been my go to on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings at 9am. The best way to begin my days during lockdown.

Cornerstones

These zoom classes have been a cornerstone of these three mornings providing connection with others as well as providing a relaxing and peaceful way to support my body, mind and soul. Yin yoga is a very internal process, holding poses for up to 5 minutes and allowing the body to relax, especially around the hips and lower body. Many emotions are held in the body and particularly in the hips. These emotions can prevent us moving forward or keeping us locked into old patterns of being stuck. So releasing the hips can assist us to move forward as well as letting go of stress.

The realisation that the classes had ended made me feel quite sad and teary. I began wondering what would replace the classes and this made me feel quite shaky. I would have to go out to attend classes in the physical! How did I feel about that? Great news for yoga studios but I felt quite daunted at this prospect of leaving my home.

In addition the location of the physical yin yoga class is too far away from where I live for me to attend and I felt sad about this. I realised that I had become very attached to the classes and I was slightly anxious about what would take its place. Also I had so enjoyed being able to start the day with yoga in the comfort of my own home. I relished the time to stretch my body, be mindful and start the day slowly. The personality was having a field day with this ending even though we know that with endings new beginnings can occur. Letting go of what has been my new normal for the last few weeks was proving to be quite a process.

So what did I do with the feelings of sadness and anxiety? I sat with the feelings and let them rise up and float away. That wasn’t working too well so I went for a walk around the neighbourhood which did help. During my walk I reminded myself that new classes could present themselves. Above all I gave thanks to have had this support over this period of lockdown. It has been a very special time and I am very grateful to have had this opportunity to go inwards and enjoy more than 20 yin yoga classes with Daphne Luke. What a special gift to receive.

As the lid of the lap top closes on this phase of life it is time to look to the future and see what will fill this space that has been created.

Thanks for listening

Tessa Jonassen

Modern Day Medicine Woman and Founder of Harmonia – Healing for the Soul and My Bottle of Goodness