WEEK 24.2 (JUNE 14-JUNE 20TH) “WHEN YOU CHANGE THE WAY YOU LOOK AT THINGS THE THINGS YOU LOOK AT CHANGE.”
Mantra:
“I see clearly. I breathe deeply. I let go beautifully.”
A class about shifting perspective, healing old patterns, honoring the present moment, and letting go with grace. This flow invites you to pause, reflect, and realign with what really matters.
Topic 1 – The Lens We Look Through
Talk:
Have you ever seen those 3D street paintings—anamorphic pavement art? From most angles, they just look like a chaotic blur of color. People walk by without noticing. But then—bam—you find just the right spot, and the whole image snaps into focus. A shark leaps out of the pavement. A staircase spirals into the ground. It was always there. You just had to shift your perspective.
Life works the same way. We’re rarely seeing things as they are—we’re seeing them through the filters of habit, expectation, and judgment. Our minds are wired for bias. We hear what we want to hear. We see what we’re conditioned to see. Everything else gets tuned out like background static.
But there’s an antidote. In Buddhism, it’s called Shoshin—Beginner’s Mind. It means approaching each moment as if it were brand new. No assumptions. No stories. Just openness. Curiosity. A willingness to see clearly, without distortion.
That’s what yoga offers us. The chance to wipe the lens clean. To move, breathe, and notice—not based on what we think we know, but on what’s actually happening.
Call to Action:
As you flow tonight, practice Beginner’s Mind. Let go of the need to label or judge. Drop the story. Just be here. Just see.
Topic 2 – The Courage to Heal
Talk:
Healing takes more than time—it takes courage. Hippocrates said, “Before you heal someone, ask if they’re willing to give up what made them sick.”
And that’s the real question. We say we want peace—but cling to chaos. We long for ease—but glorify the grind. And sometimes, we wear our suffering like a badge of honor.
Yoga invites us to flip that script. It’s not always about doing more. Sometimes, it’s about doing less. About releasing instead of adding.
Metaphor:
Picture a closet so full, you can’t shut the door anymore. You’ve been stuffing it for years. At some point, the only way to breathe again—is to start letting things go.
Quotes woven in:
“Before you heal someone, ask him if he’s willing to give up the things that make him sick.” – Hippocrates
“If God took back the pain you endured, you would lose the strength you gained.” – David Scott
“Do the best you can with what you know. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou
“It takes a strong soul with real heart to develop smiles out of situations that make us weep.” – MarcandAngel
Call to Action:
Tonight, soften something. Maybe your jaw. Maybe your to-do list. Maybe the belief that you always have to hold it all together. That softening—that’s where healing begins.
Topic 3 – The Gift of the Present Moment
Talk:
We’re taught to chase. To achieve. To hustle. But in all that doing… are we really living?
We rush toward success and miss the sweetness of the moment we’re in. But life isn’t a checklist. It’s a breath. A laugh. A quiet connection. It’s the sip, not the sprint.
At the end of our lives, no one asks how many emails we answered. The real questions are:
Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter?
Metaphor:
Imagine making the perfect cup of tea—then never drinking it because you’re already planning the next one. Life is steeped. It’s ready. And it’s hot right now. Don’t miss it.
Quotes woven in:
“We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” – Dr. Seuss
“Being alive is a special occasion.”
“Life is a question, and how we live it is our answer.” – Gary Keller
“Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter?”
Call to Action:
Let this breath be your “yes” to life. No more waiting. This moment is your answer.
Topic 4 – Surrendering What No Longer Fits
Talk:
We hold on tight. To roles. To routines. To relationships. To old versions of ourselves.
But real peace isn’t found in the gripping. It’s found in the release.
Letting go doesn’t mean failure. It means making space—for something truer, something lighter.
And remember: We don’t stop doing yoga because we get old. We get old when we stop doing yoga.
Metaphor:
Think of a tree dropping its leaves. It doesn’t fight the fall. It doesn’t mourn. It trusts the cycle. Letting go is the beginning of new growth.
Quotes woven in:
“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.”
“In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go.”
“Perhaps you are searching among the branches for what only appears in the roots.” – Rumi
“I am rooted but I flow.” – Virginia Woolf
“We don’t stop doing yoga because we get old. We get old when we stop doing yoga.”
Call to Action:
If you feel stuck tonight—mentally, physically, emotionally—just try loosening your grip. A little. Let it float away like an exhale. You don’t need to carry it anymore.
Topic 5 – Trusting the Process
Talk:
Sometimes, clarity doesn’t arrive in a flash. It unfolds. Like film developing in a darkroom or seeds sprouting in spring soil—what’s becoming clear is already in motion, even if you can’t see it yet.
We live in a world obsessed with answers and control. But yoga teaches us to stay with the not knowing. The breath doesn’t demand certainty before it enters the body. The posture doesn’t arrive perfect on the first try. Growth happens in motion, not perfection. You cant learn to drive in a parked car.
In Buddhism, this is the principle of Saddhā—faith, not in an outcome, but in the path itself. A quiet confidence that says, “Even if I can’t see the whole road, I trust the step I’m taking right now.”
Yoga is a practice of that trust. Of learning to listen inwardly. Of choosing the next small right step—even when the destination is still hidden in the mist.
Metaphor:
Picture walking across a rope bridge in the fog. You can’t see the other side. Just the plank beneath your feet, the soft sway, the creak of the rope. Still, you keep walking. Not because you see the end—but because you feel the way.
Quotes:
“As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” – Rumi
“Your task is not to foresee the future, but to enable it.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“You don’t have to see the whole path. Just take the next step in love.” – David Scott
“What is for you will not pass you.” – Old proverb
Call to Action:
In tonight’s practice, let go of needing to figure it all out. Breathe into the mystery. Trust that your body knows. That your heart is wise. That you are already on the way—even if you can’t yet see where it leads.
Closing Mantra:
“I see clearly. I breathe deeply. I let go beautifully.”