Highs and Lows

I hope those of you grappling with challenging weather are safe and warm. I have experienced some intense highs and lows over the past few weeks; the deep low of losing our beloved dog, and the true high that comes from a wonderful weekend with friends at a wedding celebration. We are always living in a world where at various extremes these highs and lows are the nature of our lives day to day and it is important (even during the lows) to stay connected to the highs as well. Riding these waves has been my practice and it was what I shared with students this past week.

When I notice intense swings in my own life, it reminds me of a tradition my kids experienced at the YMCA sleep away camp they both attended for several summers. In the evenings campers they would sit around a campfire and share their HIGHS and LOWS of the day. There were two rules; they needed to have more highs than lows and they needed to end on a high note.

So we practiced HIGHS and LOWS on the mat this week by noticing what felt good and right in the body. Yes, one hip might be tighter than the other so it is training in the mind to both notice the challenging hip AND the healthy hip. As we moved through, I offered childs pose several times and when students took the chance I asked them to think of it as a HIGH not a LOW. Resting, recovering, stepping back…that is a great thing for our bodies, not a weakness or failure. Savasana (corpse pose) was the gift at the end as usual. The chance to relax, surrender the body and transition the practice into the mind was truly ending on a high note. 

It is the human condition to experience challenges in our bodies and our lives and with that we are also wired with what is called a negativity bias. This means we spend much more time worrying about the bad things that could happen then thinking about all the good things that have already happened and are likely to happen.

What this HIGHS and LOWS practice helps remind us is that even in the lows, there are also highs; things to honor and celebrate that can get lost in the cloud of worry without proper attention. From there we can gain something incredibly valuable– I like to think of it as a significant high– PERSPECTIVE. This perspective allows us to ride the waves  intentionally and connect more to joy even through the pain. 

I wish you all a week of HIGHS and LOWS practice and the gift of PERSPECTIVE. And don’t forget the rules– more HIGHS than LOWS and to end on a HIGH NOTE!