The Art of Non-Doing

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu

One of the common concerns I hear from our dear online trainees is that they are not staying on track with their studies.  Weeks or months can fly by without logging in to do the next module and guilt often sets in.  We may see on the discussion forum that another trainee has just completed their course and whilst we are so joyous for them, it can make us feel really lousy about ourselves.  Enter the saboteur!  The nagging doubts about your worth as a yoga teacher creep in – I mean how can you be a great yoga teacher if you haven’t even got on your mat this month?  Mind as well throw the whole dream of being a yoga teacher away!  If this has happened to you, the great news is, you are not alone.  Even better, you don’t have to listen to your inner voice that is sabotaging your own good efforts.  Both Carlos and myself have had many moments of self-doubt and if we had let the negative inner dialogue win…well…there would be no online yoga teacher training courses!  Despite the turmoil of feeling not good enough, under-prepared, strung out with your time, haven’t mastered headstand yet and all the other distractions presenting themselves, you are good enough to be a wonderful yoga teacher!  Plus there’s all the time in the world to complete the course.  Not just because there’s no formal deadline on the course, but rather, because if you trust yourself and stay true to your intention to complete the course and to share the gift of yoga with others, you will naturally fall into a rhythm of study that best serves your personal nature and the course will be a joy.

I repeat this pattern in my life to this day so trust me I know this cycle like the back of my hand!  I recently moved house, which in itself was a huge manual task and also created the need for a lot of emotional processing.  At the same time the usual daily business jobs needed to be attended to and we are also working on two new online courses, our Healers Course and our Yoga Massage Course.  I was doing fairly well, managing my time, resting when possible, practicing my yoga and ‘keeping it together’…or so I thought!  A few days after the official move, instead heeding to my soul self that was asking for some space given my physical and emotional exhaustion, I bought into that I had to now devote more time to completing our new online courses.  I felt stressed.  I knew I wasn’t operating from my heart but I felt the need to make true on our promise that these courses would be finished sooner rather than later.  I then sprained my neck – badly!  So badly in fact, that I was forced to lie down, not move a muscle (it hurt so much to even blink!) and stop.  I immediately knew what was happening on a metaphysical level and understood that instead of staying true to my own rhythms and trusting the jobs would get done, I forced and pushed.  Despite being in tremendous pain, I could thank my sprained neck for showing me the way, slowing me down and providing the much needed space I needed to just be.

I reminded myself of a notion called ‘The Art of Non-Doing’ which I am passionate about practicing.  Non-Doing does not mean ‘doing nothing’ – rather, it is a way of living that encourages all physical action to be taken from a place of internal desire and loving impulse.  If we do our daily tasks with love and genuine pleasure attached, we will stay in the flow of life, creating and working with joy and radiating peace into the greater consciousness.  If we really don’t want to do the washing up for instance, it actually serves our self, Higher Self and others more if we don’t wash up and do what we really feel is best at that time (perhaps sitting outside with a cuppa and talking to the trees!).  But the washing up must get done you say…as well as the 3 loads of laundry, 10 emails, 2 return phone calls, shopping for groceries, meeting your friend for coffee…The Art of Non-Doing is not asking you to be irresponsible – it is asking you to put your soul first.  Listen to the inner guidance and trust that if you stay in tune with your own personal rhythms, you will complete all necessary tasks and probably more with joy and ease, not frustration and fatigue.  It’s also making peace with the fact that maybe the washing up, or the next module in the course won’t get done in the time frame your ego mind is demanding it should be done.  That’s ok!  Surrender!

Move with peace, move with lightness and when heaviness sets in, take a break for as long as you need. You truly don’t need to feel guilty about an afternoon spent lying in bed reading and sleeping – in fact it’s so good for the soul that as soon as you have replenished yourself on this deeper level, all your other ‘jobs’ seem effortless.

So here’s to you my dear fellow soul traveller and the reminder that we are all enough every moment of the day.  Let’s commit to being our authentic selves and knowing all our dreams are possible.  Set your intention about what you wish to achieve, then hand it over and let the Universe figure out the details.  Your job is stay true to yourself, true to your own rhythms and enjoying the Art of Non-Doing!

Much love

Carrie