I thought I'd broken my toe!

Some of you may not know that I studied Philosophy at A-level, and in my first year of Uni.

As much as I enjoyed (and still do) sitting around pondering the meaning of life, I swiftly gave it up in my second year, when I came to the realisation that I just didn’t “get it”. 

So I’m not going to get too philosophical with this one. It’s more about the amusement of the situation rather than the serious meaning behind it (you may have noticed by now that I don’t take anything too seriously!)

Here’s just a snippet about the philosophy though, to put it into context:

Do you believe in a higher power?

In yoga, the ultimate “goal” is to reach the realisation that we are not separate from the higher power that is “the Universe”, and thus we surrender ourselves to it because it resides within us. Yoga means to “yolk” or “bind” us in body, mind and soul, so that we experience this sense of “Oneness with the Divine”.

Often in Yoga classes, we are encouraged to “trust the Universe” and ultimately then to trust ourselves - when we are at One with our higher power, we are able to let our inner wisdom be our guide (instead of our egos!).

Some may see this higher power as God, angels, spirit guides, ancestors - something greater than ourselves offering a voice of guidance, and mapping out our destinies/fate. We are only able to hear that voice clearly if we are open to it, and our minds are still.  Therefore some people pray, chant or meditate to reach a state of clarity of mind, whereby this inner wisdom can come through. 

(N.B. This ties in with last week’s intention of feeling unbalanced and split in many different directions. Our Yoga practice is always there to put the pieces of us back together again and give us an opportunity to find some peace and stillness so that our inner wisdom (or higher power) can let us know whether our energies are balanced correctly).

Anyway, what has all of this got to do with my toe? (which is not broken by the way!)

I think all of us have heard of Murphy’s law, yes? Which states that "things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance," or more commonly, "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong."

Well, us in old Blighty more commonly know this as “sod’s Law!” - a general sense of being "mocked by fate". In this sense (and for the purpose of this week’s ramble) we are looking at this as similar to irony - particularly the irony of fate.

I certainly felt that I was being “mocked by fate” when I stubbed my toe, because:

1. I have been talking a lot recently about sleep (or lack thereof), and in particular about how I would really like a new, bigger, more comfortable bed for us all to sleep in as a family. Our bed then fought back by sticking it’s leg out and causing me to badly hurt myself. 

2. This resulted in my balance to be completely thrown off on the week I had set the intention for “striking a balance”! How embarrassing!

Here’s how I see it:

• This incident was fate’s/the Universe’s way of reminding me to be grateful for having a warm, safe, cosy bed to rest my head in at times of need!

• After giving myself a hard time for not doing enough exercise, feeling totally unbalanced, and like I was being torn in so many different directions, I was forced to actually stop and slow down a bit.

Maybe this is all a bit of nonsense to you - but I think we may agree that the universe works in mysterious ways at times doesn’t it? 

Thinking back on all of the times you have felt frustrated, disappointed or heartbroken that you didn’t get what you wanted in life, or a circumstance didn’t quite turn out how you wanted - perhaps now you are glad that you didn’t end up in that particular situation with that particular outcome, because things have turned out better instead? Or maybe not.

The Universe will always give us tough lessons, but “When things feel like they are falling apart, perhaps they are falling into place” .

Let’s take the covid pandemic for example.
I invite you to watch these videos, and I shall leave it at that:

1. “Thank you coronavirus”
2. “The story of the Virus”

Namaste Yogis!

Love always,
Aimee
xxx

P.S. You can also register for any of my classes here:

http://www.aimeehillmassageyoga.co.uk/yoga

* Monday 10-11am Gentle Yoga

* Tuesday 7-8pm Energy Flow

* Thursday 10:15-11/11:15am Mummy & Baby Yoga

* Thursday 6:30-7:30pm Pregnancy Yoga

* Thursday 8-9pm Bedtime Yoga with Nidra

xx