Don’t Hack Me!

I feel compelled to write about the term “hack,” which has its obvious meanings, such as to cut or hack down. However, more and more, I am hearing it used as a term to describe shortcuts that claim to make life easier and save time.

There is a hack for everything, from yoga hacks to calm you down, to meditation hacks for people who struggle with meditation. Exercise hacks for time-poor individuals, cooking hacks, and more. It reminds me of a few years back when the word yoga was used for everything! Do you remember when the laptops first became flipable? They used yoga to sell them, big billboards with yoga and flexible computers! It’s around the same time we saw goat yoga, beer yoga, wine yoga, kitten yoga, you name it, and yoga was attached to it.

What’s my point? My point is that ancient practices such as yoga and Ayurveda have stood the test of time for those who commit to them. Holistic practices that support the whole person. Time-honored techniques to remove the illusions, veils of ignorance, and practices that uncover who you are without the masks we acquire through living life. Many become attached to the ego mindset of self-importance, competitiveness, attachment to job roles and positions of power.

In times when we are experiencing unprecedented mental health issues, anxiety, anger, conflict, obesity, diabetes, and numerous autoimmune conditions, overall, we are the sickest, on all levels of our being, than we have ever been, yet we have access to more information than we ever had. We are more disconnected from our hearts than ever. We have become disconnected from our innate wisdom, intuition is rarely followed, and a connection to nature is rare.

Personally, I don’t believe getting more life hacks is the way to go. It’s time to stop and listen to what is really going on. Get back to basics and take responsibility for your well-being and life. Yes, that means committing to what works and putting in the effort for the long-term rewards. We have a society that doesn’t know itself and therefore doesn’t know what it needs to be healthy, resilient, happy, and content. That makes them vulnerable to falling for quick fixes and never learning how to cope when life gets messy.

Life is messy, and taking shortcuts to avoid putting in and committing to practices that will support you for life is not the answer.  When the going gets tough, you need a solid foundation that is built on a deep knowing of yourself and what supports you.

Where to start? By asking yourself a few questions:

What brings me joy?

What would I like to do more of?

What is stopping me from doing more of that?

What do I value most?

A few clues to what you value might be to look around at what you have surrounded yourself with. What is filling your spaces, house, shelves, and cupboards, and your time right now? How do those things/people make you feel?

What’s coming out of your mouth? How do you speak to others and yourself?

A wise teacher once said, “Taste your words before you speak them,” and I have never forgotten that quote. Let’s face it, you can’t take them back once they are out! What we speak is powerful. The universe hears everything we say and records everything we think.

Life is too short to put things off, to not live your best life. What is holding you back?

It’s time to commit to yourself, to step out of your comfort zone, to stop taking shortcuts and avoiding the pain, messiness, sadness, anger, fear, and joy that is all part of living a meaningful life. A resilient heart is built by feeling it all.

We grow resilience and strength one step at a time, and the first step is to commit.

Commit yourself!

Yoga, and when I say yoga, I mean all that yoga is, which is way more than movements on a mat. Yoga incorporates all layers of your being.

How do you look after your body temple? – Your body records every word, thought, and action, and stores them if not expressed. Our bodies are meant to move throughout the day, everyday to clear the incoming obstructions.

How do you manage your prana? Do you notice how alive or depleted you feel? Your energy levels, how you breathe, do you take a few good breaths throughout the day? Most people are not breathing correctly and therefore their pranic levels are depleted and energy channels blocked, causing tiredness and lethargy.

How do you deal with your emotions? Noticing what is present and where in your body you feel it, then sit with it and be curious.

How do you manage your thoughts? Noticing your mood, attitude, and how this changes throughout the day.

How do you show up on all those levels of your being?

How do you commit to a spiritual practice? Do you have a belief or connection to something better than you?

Yoga is what has provided me with a solid foundation upon which I can experience all aspects of life. No dogma, no religion, but a deep connection and commitment to get to know myself on deeper and deeper levels day by day.

It is a process of peeling away the layers, bit by bit, at your own pace. It’s a process that benefits from having an open mind and allowing others to support you. It’s about being connected to others and building a community of support where you can experience life together.

Commit to a practice, make it happen, show up – it’s up to you to make the time for YOU. Make a date away from all the distractions, even if only for ten minutes a day. Block out time in your diary and use it to connect and start asking questions that will uncover more about what you love, and how you can support yourself.

If you’d like to listen to this instead of reading then you can tap into my podcast by clicking the button below. You can also find tools and techniques on my YouTube channel that will support movement, relaxation, lifestyle tips and more.

If you’d like to delve a bit deeper, I have an online course that guides you through all those layers of your being. It’s called Come Alive, and you can access it here for a one-time purchase and have it forever to revisit as you need.

Let me know your thoughts on this topic, I always love hearing from you, share the journey and let’s grow together.

Namaste

Sarah