Spaciousness and Yin for the Win

If you know me well, you know I have long-struggled with overdoing. (By "long", I mean half a century or so. I still remember when I was in kindergarten, hesitant to ask a high school student for help using scissors). My lifelong journey is about learning to 1) receive support and 2) relax.

In the spirit of my ongoing quest, this spring I joined a phenomenal gym. I love going so much that it's become my new happy place. While there, I have discovered the joys and benefits of Yin Yoga classes, which I now attend 3-4x/week.

Yin Yoga, perhaps not surprisingly, is the opposite of Yang Yoga, a distinction that was news to me. In yoga, Yang indicates movement, whereas Yin indicates stillness. Both types encourage focus on the breath. In Yin Yoga, instead of flowing through a series of poses, you make "shapes" with your body and hold them for 3-4 minutes each, to release tension in the fascia. Breathing without otherwise moving, especially in a dark, quiet room with soothing music and a specially trained facilitator, can be quite meditative.

As I attended more regularly, I found myself increasingly aware of longing for spaciousness in my work. For me, spaciousness means time in my workday where my brain is not pre-assigned to a specific activity such as "meet with so-and-so" or "write a blog post". It's been my dream to stick to a spacious work schedule, rather than fill it all up with seemingly time-sensitive activities. Eventually, it dawned on me that I couldn't hold the spaciousness because I didn't believe I deserved it. 🤦‍♀️

Then during one fateful (fated?) Yin Yoga class in June, as I focused on my breath and held my shapes for minutes at a time, several reasons why I need spaciousness started surfacing in my brain. One by one, thoughts rose up that helped me connect the dots of why I needed what I wanted.

After class, I sat by the pool and jotted my realizations onto my laptop. When I concentrated on the words on my screen, I was able to identify a natural order to them. Once I recognized that, a sort-of poem (see above) seemed to have emerged. I felt a rush of energy flow through my spirit. Organized, these ideas felt revolutionary to me. I didn't crave spaciousness because I'm selfish or lazy; I craved it because it's a necessity for me to fulfill my purpose as a Crisis Navigation Partner®. Without adding spaciousness I would not be able to stay physically, mentally, and emotionally strong enough to continue serving others long-term. I need spaciousness to live my purpose.

That very afternoon I designed a new schedule for myself and rearranged my commitments to make it work. Since then, I have been alternating time blocks of work with time blocks of spaciousness. I have been reveling in the unassigned time! This summer I have experienced more joy, more creativity, and more rest than I have in ages.

What do you need to continue serving in your work and personal life? Please share!