Here’s how I don’t want to feel:
Clogged. Bloated. Stuck in habits. Trapped. Resentful.
Despite my education and training in yoga, health, and human being-ness, I sometimes feel those things. I sink into the couch at night with the computer or phone near, if not on my lap, because there is something-to-be-done. Mind-numbing television on in the background.
Here’s how I want to feel:
In flow. Excited about something big. Or something small and mundane like reading the paper or a book while sipping a perfectly warm mug of wonderful. The whole family, together and laughing. Learning a new dance move. Collaborating on an experience that’ll expand presence and power for women.
I want to live on purpose, with the stuff that feels good and the stuff that doesn’t.
A newborn baby. Lost in laughter. Sunsets and storms. The dreary and the sublime. All of it. Sometimes it’s taking it in, like art. Changing the filter perhaps.
Taking pictures is one of the ways I’ve nurtured my desire to notice the beauty in all of it. Photographs that capture the feeling. That evoke a feeling, whether it’s calm or goosebumps of love or turned on or anger at the injustice or sadness…inspiration to make it your own. To do something, whether it’s relaxing or making a move.
Oh, the power of a picture to inspire change, to stir emotions. In 2013 I had the privilege of learning from and working with the legendary photographer and artist, Robert Sturman. Out of that experience: a series in the glorious Atlantic ocean. I treasure those images. They invoke a feeling of strength and beauty that I don’t often feel about myself.
Robert’s gentleness and how he set my mind at ease at the beginning of the photoshoot and thereafter has remained with me. I had the jitters because I didn’t consider myself a “real yogi” like those he photographs. He said something along the lines of: “Are you a nice person? Yes? Then you’re a real yogi. A real yogi is a nice person.”
Robert’s work creates a sense of hope, possibility, and inspiration to act. His Africa Yoga Project photography is especially dear to my heart. I’m honored to collaborate with him on Wednesday, May 25 at lululemon Greenwich CT for an evening to explore how we can each bring artistic inspiration into our own lives through imagery. Click here for more information.
To art,
Lisa
