Certified Life Coach and Author Jennifer Lee, PCC, CPCC, MA
What a perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday morning – yoga in the park. The enthusiastic and entertaining Laura Camp from Monkey Yoga Shala led a fun class at Willard Park in Berkeley. Live drummers helped us move to the beat. Laura even had us doing partner poses. That’s her in the handstand above. Reminds me, that I’ve been meaning to try an acroyoga class.
Hannah and me with our post-yoga glow.
Yogis communing around the food provided by lulu lemon. I look forward to more outdoor down dogs!
Yesterday, I spent the afternoon at the Creative Action Center with my friend and fellow Lady Launcher Laura Parker. Given the busy week I had, it was really nice to just hang out, create and connect.
Last month when I took Kimberly Wilson’s Yoga and Creativity workshop, Kimberly highlighted the yamas and niyamas. We studied them during my yoga teacher training, but I appreciated the refresher since I have such a hard time remembering the Sanskrit words. So, I created two pieces to stay connected to these spiritual guidelines.
Yamas are ethical observations or how we interact with our outer world. The five yamas include:
Niyamas are self observations or how we interact with ourselves in our inner world. The five niyamas are:
This week I’ll be focusing on Samtosha (being grateful for what I have) and Tapas (to keep me on track with my goals). I invite you to pick one or two of these teachings to play with this week, too. Namaste.
Today Kate and I participated in Kimberly Wilson‘s Yoga and Creativity workshop. Through a blissful blend of journaling, visualization, asana, collage and meditation my inner teacher and inner muse came out to play. I loved being on the mat in a room full of yoga enthusiasts and women wanting to connect with their creativity. These are my kind of peeps!
During our discussion, a theme emerged around striking the balance of being inspired with lots of creative thoughts and being grounded enough so that we can implement them. I know with my vata kapha dosha, I can tend to get overwhelmed and flighty with my whirlwind of ideas or stuck and sluggish from that very same overwhelm. That’s when I need to fire up some pitta to get me in action! And I can use that right about now given the goals I have for the rest of the year.
For the workshop, I dusted off my yoga teacher training journal that I made with papyrus from my trip to Egypt and a copy of my lotus blossom painting. I realized that I had stopped regularly journaling about my practice sometime in 2007, yikes! I’ll definitely pick that back up again, even if it’s just short entries about what I’m noticing with my yoga. It’s hard to believe it’s been more than a year since my teacher training! It felt good to reconnect with that journey in a creative way again.
And that’s the Hip Tranquil Chick herself with me (and my new very asymmetrical haircut!). With all her entrepreneurial ventures and her lovely presence, Kimberly is truly an inspiration. What a treat to meet her in person!!
You can find us both as guest bloggers on the wishstudio blogzine!
On Thursday, the question of the day at Cafe Gratitude was, “What is luxurious about your life?” My answer… the fact that I have the freedom and flexibility to have a nice lunch in the middle of the day with a friend I hadn’t seen in ages. I had been so looking forward to seeing my friend and old Old Navy HR teammate Meredith and hearing the latest and greatest in her life! We had such a wonderful time reconnecting. She’s getting her masters in Expressive Arts Therapy so we also had a great conversation about using Expressive Arts in therapy and coaching.
While we were there, I looked a few tables over and thought that the woman there looked kinda familiar. I said to Meredith, “I think that woman wrote the book that’s in my purse right now!” I’m taking a workshop from Kimberly Wilson this Sunday in the city, so I’ve been reading her awesome book Hip Tranquil Chick. When we were done with lunch, I went to the bathroom and pulled out the book to check the headshot. I was pretty sure it was her and thought, oh what the hell, I’ll just go over to the table and ask! Turns out it was indeed Kimberly. She was really sweet and she recognized me from the wishstudio blogzine where we both have a guest column. I’m looking forward to her Yoga & Creativity workshop this weekend.
After lunch, I had a quarterly in-person check-in session with a long-standing coaching client. We did some cool work together using the Inside Team model with Expressive Arts. I’m excited to be incorporating these new tools into my practice and seeing the powerful impact it has.
I had a couple of hours before my SF Coaches board meeting, so I stopped off at Fillmore Street to hang out. Went to Paper Source and bought some new pens. Then moseyed on over to Bittersweet for a lovely cup of White Chocolate Dream (my absolute favorite is their Spicy! hot chocolate, but I knew if I had it that late in the day I’d be wired… yes, I’m that sensitive to caffeine!).
Finished the night off with a great BBQ and meeting on the deck of fellow board member Heidi’s Marina apartment.
Ahhh, I’m grateful for my luxuriously leisurely and synchronistic day in beautiful San Fran!
It’s been another full week and challenging for me to keep up with all the great things going on. I did make a point on Wednesday to take advantage of the gorgeous spring-like weather by practicing yoga in my backyard. With the sun shining overhead, birds chirping in the trees and the cool breeze on my skin, I was in yogi heaven! I’m amazed at how the fresh air brought me so in touch with my breath and my body – wonderful!
With another Ladies Who Launch Incubator that started last night, I’m reminded to get creative about doing more nice things for myself. After all, pampering is part of the lady launching way! So, I can’t wait for more sunny days like this to do backyard yoga ‘cuz that sure counts as a nice thing.
Today I was at It’s Yoga for another dream box workshop with a new circle of teacher trainers. It’s hard for me to believe that it was almost a year ago that I completed my yoga teacher certification. So many wonderful things have manifested since then. One being getting to lead this workshop at the studio!!!
I had fun laughing and hanging out with the group. They were a playful and engaging bunch! And I loved hearing about their dreams and seeing the unique ways they all decorated their dream boxes.
One of the students crafted her own “guru-in-a-box” with a pop-up Sri Swami Satchidananda to offer inspiration and wisdom! How cool is that?!
The past 10 days have been a whirlwind of excitement, connection, fulfillment and fun! I visited Washington DC to be a Circle Coach for Quest, returned home to lead a dream box workshop at It’s Yoga and then flew out to Cleveland for our Ladies Who Launch leader training. I had a great time at all the different events. And this weary traveler is happy to be home (where it’s not snowing!).
Quest was amazing. What an honor to help shepherd our Questers on their journey of discovering their leadership essence and taking action on their inspiring Quests. I look forward to seeing how they each continue to make their unique impact on the world!
The icing on the cake was meeting up with my friends John and Marie last Saturday night in DC. I hadn’t seen John in about three years and this was my first time meeting Marie in person. What a treat!
Had one day back home to make dream boxes with the yoga teacher trainers including students from Mexico, Israel, Japan and all across the US. I’m always so moved by what the participants dream of and create!
Next up, Cleveland! On our first day there, Launy, Corinne and I ventured to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’m no music buff, so much of the paraphernalia was beyond me. But I did get a kick out of seeing a letter that Madonna wrote to a friend while she was at the University of Michigan, Jim Morrison’s report cards from grade school and drawings that Jimi Hendrix did as a kid.
California girls Launy, me, Corinne and Claire braving the snow. It was so much fun to be at the training with these smart, savvy gals. And we’re so excited to bring all our launching energy back to our fellow Bay Area launchers.
Oh, and I just had to take a picture of the infamous chocolate cake that magically appeared after every meal. Good thing we had yoga class Friday morning to work off such decadence.
And finally, a beautiful shot of all 14 leaders in training from across the US and Canada along with our awesome trainer Stella. What an amazing group of women!
Now that I’m easing into my yoga practice again, I’m going back to basics. I can hear Larry asking, “Where are your hands and feet?” Reminding me to pay attention to my foundation on and off the mat. Where am I placing my intention and how consciously am I holding myself up?
I’m reconnecting with my drishti (sanskrit for vision or focus). Drishti is something I can easily lose sight of (pun intended!), especially when I’m in a class and going into comparison mode. With my home practice, though, my focus seems sharper. A soft gaze helps me stay connected to where I’m headed in my pose and in life. A great metaphor for clarifying my vision at the start of the year.
And, I can’t forget about breath and bandhas! Pranayama is the heart of the practice, linking mind, body and spirit. Engaging the bandhas (or locks) reminds me to come from my personal stake (what I stand for). When I come from my core in my practice and in life, I’m much more solid and grounded.
Having to slow down and be more conscious of my practice has allowed me to revisit fundamentals of yoga. I’m grateful for these lessons on and off the mat! Namaste.
(Apparently an adorer of alliteration according to the post title! Heehee!) I’m a little behind in blogland and there’s so much to catch up on! First off, awards…. I’m so incredibly honored to receive a “You Make My Day” award from three of my very favorite bloggers: Jamie, Leah and Marilyn. You guys inspire me every time I read what you’re up to. You are at the top of my list for my “You Make My Day” award recipients. So right back acha!
Here are the rules:
Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times!
In addition to Jamie, Leah and Marilyn (I’ve linked to some of their other sites so you can see more awesome stuff that they’re up to!), the following lovely souls make my day: Serendipity Squared, Invisible Lives, Under a Pink Sky, Be Alive Believe Be You, Diary of a Self Portrait, and The Skeptic Yogi.
Speaking of yoga, I am so happy that I re-discovered my practice. And what great timing considering I just stumbled upon World Yoga Practice Month where you practice yoga everyday in January! Also, yesterday my friend Brad, who I met at a dream box workshop I led for It’s Yoga, sent me some super cool information on a new yoga teacher training he’s created. It’s called the Yoga Exploratorium at Yoga Sol. Imagine learning about asanas, meditation, anatomy, etc. in a fun, hands-on environment like SF’s Exploratorium. The first line of the course description says it all, “Yoga is curiosity & a creative process.”
And as for abundance, wow, 2008 is off to a fantastic start. I’m ever so grateful! I’m working with amazing clients, I just gave a talk on Wednesday about creative goal-setting at a networking group and in the next two weeks I’m off to DC to help facilitate Quest and then Cleveland for my official Ladies Who Launch leader training. The rest of the month is going to be filled to the brim, so I must remember to build in some recoup time, too. Ahhhh!
One powerful skill in coaching is making distinctions. Sometimes we’ve unconsciously collapsed multiple definitions or ideas together into one big fat limiting belief. “Since I got passed over for a promotion, I must not be worthy.” “I didn’t do my meditation today, that means I’m lazy and undisciplined.” Oh and my favorite, given the title of this post, “I suck at math, so I must be stupid.” Sure those are perspectives to hold AND they’re likely to keep you feeling very stuck or sorry for yourself. Not very productive or compassionate for that matter.
By untangling these definitions from each other, we’re able to see what’s really true for us and are opened up to a whole new world of options.
Here are some collapsed definitions that I sometimes trip myself up on. Creativity = Art (and the subset of that… Art = Visual Art). With the help of our handy transitive equation from algebra class that means I am only creative when I’m doing visual art. Wow, that’s incredibly limiting, wouldn’t you say?
Here’s the latest collapsed definition that I’ve been challenged with. Yoga = Asanas (and only of the Ashtanga variety since that’s what I’m trained in). For the last several months I’ve been dealing with a possible stress fracture in my foot. I’ve been extremely frustrated. I’ve made up that I can’t do yoga because it’s too intense and I need to stay off my feet. Well, over the past couple of days I’ve come to my senses and realized I’ve been in the grip of a collapsed definition. Simply by naming that, I feel more hopeful. I’ve reminded myself that yoga is also about breath (pranayama) and yoga is also very restorative. I can modify poses any way that I want and that will serve where my body is at. And developing my own sequence of healing poses is indeed a creative process (which blows my above collapsed definition about creativity out of the water, too!).
Which collapsed definitions trip you up? If you tease them apart, what new options do you see?
In December, I like to have my coaching clients reflect on what they’ve accomplished throughout the year. It’s such a gift to set aside some time during the frenetic holiday season to actually honor everything you’ve manifested in the last 12 months.
After spending a few hours last Saturday journaling about my own learnings, discoveries, milestones and achievements in 2007, I was amazed at how so many different pieces of my life have flowed together in such meaningful ways. I looked back at some notes I had when I started working with my last coach after leaving my job and one of the things I wanted was more integration. I was tired of living a separate work life apart from the rest of my life.
I’m happy to say that I gave 2007 the title, “My Year of Integration: When it all came together!”
So many big things happened this year. Revamped my coaching brand, celebrated my one year of freedom, got interviewed for a book, started leading Incubators, led my second year of the CDB leadership program, got selected as a CTI Circle Coach, became certified as an Ashtanga yoga instructor and led dream box workshops at the studio, got my MBTI qualification, participated in Art Every Day Month, traveled with friends, started a creative playground to explore Expressive Arts Coaching. And so much more!
Given all the insights I gained from doing art every day last month, I picked up my watercolors and painted a mandala to represent all that has unfolded this year. I love having a visual reminder of this wonderful feeling of integration and of what has blossomed in 2007.