Effort & Ease
This winter, find in yourself a lightness in effort and peace in ease...Meditation audio & journaling prompts for the New Year included inside!
Release unnecessary, burdensome
mental effort
and experience the ease you desire
As a yoga teacher, one of my favorite class themes is Effort & Ease.
Encouraging each student, during class, to…
Ask of your body while moving or still…
Where do I feel effort…arms, legs, core?
Ask of your mind…
Where do I notice tension, tightness, difficult emotions?
And…
Seek in body and mind…
Where do I feel the sensations of ease, lightness, peace?
As a mother, or at home or work, you can consider the same theme…
What is taking the greatest amount of effort here?
What can I do to enjoy a little more ease in each day?
With winter now upon us,
let’s release some of the effort…
surrender the tension, tightness, and holding
of all that is outside our boundary of control…
so we may enjoy
our shorter days and longer nights
cozied inside
the warmth of our hearts and home…
filled with gentleness, lightness, and ease
c.o.n.t.e.m.p.l.a.t.i.o.n.
It’s time to take stock, my dear…
Where did you use your time efficiently, without difficulty or great, exhausting effort this week, month, and year?
Where was time wasted?
What came easily to you this year?
Where in life are you able to flow gently, ease-fully?
When thinking about the final days of this year…
What can you do with your time that will allow you to feel a sense of purpose, fulfillment, or accomplishment…
…all pursued with delight and ease?With whom would you like to spend the rest of the year…
…in ease, joyful conversation, and perhaps some much needed cuddles?
As the creatures of the wild scurry about
collecting their little treasures
nuts, seeds, nourishment for winter
we must also build our treasured collections
for the new season ahead…
Collecting, Holding, Mending, Enjoying
with much ease and very little effort!
Meditation
Use this p.r.a.c.t.i.c.e. to assist your exploration of…living in effortless ease…
p.r.a.c.t.i.c.e.
offer a light effort…rest in peaceful ease…
invite yourself to
sit or rest quietly, comfortably
hands placed in lap or on heart
…
breathe…
inhaling with a gentle, light effort of lungs
exhaling with a soft, full ease of chest
inhaling with a nourishing stillness
exhaling with a knowing grace
…
when you feel ready
imagine…see yourself
inhaling with a fullness of light
your body is filling with light
and then
exhaling, releasing your light
out to the world, out to your loved ones
breathe in this way
imagining, seeing yourself
filling with and releasing beautiful, radiant light
…
allow yourself to release
strenuous effort, tension, discord
allow yourself to feel
gentle, ease-full breath, peace, hope
…
allow your body to release
effort of holding, tightening, tensing
allow your body to feel sensations of
ease, accompanied by calm, flowing breath
…
allow yourself to bring an awareness
to your heart center
allow some effort of noticing
how it feels at the center of your heart
asking
what emotions are alive for me in this moment
emotions that may be coming to you through
effort of noticing, effort of difficult, uncomfortable sensations
allowing
release of great effort, release of discomfort
in order for the gentle flowing of ease…of positive, joyful emotion, sensation
…
ask yourself
what is it that is causing me distress today, uncomfortable sensations
what is causing me to put forth more effort than is good for me right now
…
ask yourself
what comes naturally to me
what is easy in my life
what is it that brings me joy
…
allow yourself to move away from
that which causes too much effort
that which takes away harmony, joy, peace
…
allow yourself to move into
that which gives you comfort
harmony…joy…peace…
…
peace, my dear
easeful peace…this is the way
allow…know…intuit…flow…become…
ease in light and peaceful energy
…
holding yourself gently
know you are always able to
release effort and
embrace ease
Final thoughts…
A version of this article was published three years ago, in December 2021.
Can you go back to that space and time to recall…
What were you doing, how was life different, and what was more difficult for you three years ago?
What might have been easier back then?
What, if anything, have you surrendered…be it an emotion, a person, an environment or situation? And if you haven’t let go of that which continues to drown you, hold you back, or cause you to tense, tighten, or produce more effort than is necessary…why haven’t you?
We are days away from another new beginning…New Year’s Day 2025.
What efforts will be worth holding, pursuing as you walk into the New Year?
Where would you like to find some ease, be it day-to-day, in work or parenting, with life in general?
Skip ahead three years and see yourself pursuing a goal, making a significant effort of some sort…what is that effort-worthy goal? What are you doing and do you believe you will be happy pursuing this effort? Are there tweaks you can make now to this goal to ensure you will be happy with the effort you have given and the outcome, whatever that outcome may be, three years from now?
What would you like to see yourself doing with ease three years from now?
Perhaps it would be worth the effort to make some journal notes on the prompts above…to help yourself ring in the New Year with some lightness, peace, and ease!
Sending you warm wishes and snowflake kisses!
xoxo Michelle