Tag Archives: Olivia

Day 7 – Living in Vulnerability

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olivia after surgeryThis is not the post I planned for today. Definitely not. I was planning a fun, happy yoga video blog on the nuances of fish pose, matsyasana. Now I sit in the fresh vulnerability of worrying about losing not one of the things that I love most in this world, but the thing that I love the most in this world: my dog, Olivia.

After an unexpected encounter with a fox on our walk last night, all night at the animal emergency room and a delicate surgery, we’re home and safe. Both of us are in pain. Even with the pain medication, Olivia’s lacerations are at best a great discomfort. My pain is the realization of how vulnerable I am to losing her.

The opportunity in yoga is to keep softening even when we want to protect ourselves. The opportunity in yoga is to soften into everything. What’s agreeable as well as what’s disagreeable. That’s how we become more gentle, kind, loving and free. That’s my work today and the real gift of yoga.

Day 19: guest blogger, Olivia the Whippet, on hoarding vs. contentment

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olivia hoardingGuest Blogger: Olivia, the Whippet

My mom is at a weekend yoga workshop with yoga teacher, Erich Schiffmann, so I agreed to fill in as a guest blogger.

Confession: I hoard food and hide it in my Mom’s bed. I like to put my treats under the covers and Twizzlers (which I don’t eat, but like to play with), poached eggs, cheese and other goodies. The reason why I hide food is so that my cat, Simone won’t eat it. She eats everything. I don’t let her get on Mom’s bed because that’s just for me and Mom.

Mom says that most people hoard something. (Dogs are people too!) She says that hoarding comes from a deep-seated belief in the lack of abundance. The fear of not having enough makes us hold on tightly to things. Mom says that we can discover a lot about ourselves by being aware of feelings of not having enough and not being good enough.

Here’s a short mantra you can use during your meditation. Say to yourself:

I have everything I need.

I have all the money that I need.

I have all the time that I need.

I have all the love that I need.

Namaste,

Olivia