Life Lessons off the Mat
Somewhere on our drive to Colorado last week, my three year old was on the hunt for cows.
"Look on the hill!" I said, pointing out cows grazing in the distance. "There are cows!"
My husband barely turned his head. "There are also cows right in front of us."
He was right. A whole field of them, practically at the window, and I'd looked right past them scanning the horizon for a better view.
I laughed at the time. But it stayed with me the rest of the drive.
How Often Do We Do This?
How much of life is like that? We're so busy looking ahead — searching for the right answer, the next thing, the clearer sign — that we miss what's already unfolding right in front of us.
We do it with our practice, always looking for the next teacher, the next technique, the thing that will finally make it click, instead of noticing what's already available to us in this breath, this pose, this moment on the mat.
We do it with our lives, too. Waiting for the next season, the next milestone, the next version of ourselves that will finally feel settled — instead of noticing that the life we're looking for is often the one already happening around us.
A Week That Made It Land Differently
Given the week we'd just had, this small moment in the car hit differently than a passing road trip observation.
When something as fragile as what our family experienced with our nephew Mac happens, you stop scanning the horizon so much. You stop looking so far ahead. You start noticing what's actually here, right now, in front of you — the people you love, the ordinary morning, the field of cows you almost missed.
Loss has a way of doing that. It strips away the abstraction of "be present" and makes it visceral. It's no longer a nice idea. It's the only thing that makes sense to do with your attention.
Feeling Into, Not Looking For
There's a real discipline in that shift in gratitude, in presence, in choosing to feel into what's here instead of constantly looking for something else.
I think that's actually what a lot of yoga is for, underneath all the poses. Not performing your way toward some far-off state of enlightenment or flexibility or calm. Not looking at yourself, checking whether you're doing it right. But feeling your way into the state you're already in — into the body, the breath, the moment that's already available to you.
Whether the practice is about connecting to something larger than yourself, or simply coming back into balance, the invitation is the same: stop looking. Start feeling.
What's Your Hill?
So this week, I'll leave you with the same question I keep asking myself:
What's your hill — the thing off in the distance you keep scanning for — and what's actually right in front of you that you might be looking past to get there?
Sometimes the answer isn't further away. Sometimes it's just outside the window.
If this resonated, I go deeper into presence, gratitude, and what yoga is really for on this week's episode of the Peaceful Power Podcast.
And if you'd like to support our family during this time, you can read more about our nephew Mac and contribute here.
Nourished & Rooted
I have opened up spots in my 1:1, 16-week Yoga and Ayurveda program. We can meet in-person or virtual. I crafted this for those "it depends" questions — so you can have those answers for yourself. Learning Ayurveda can be like learning a new language and seeing the world through a different lens. If you want to go deeper with your yoga or Ayurveda framework, you can read more about this new program above.
