Finding Balance...

I know many of you can relate, finding balance in one's own life is a near impossible feat.

Over the past few months I've been trying my best to find balance and live my healthy lifestyle. Since the marathon (I use this term a lot) I've tried going back to the gym, taking spin classes, signing up for WW again, being more involved in the community and also trying to work more overtime. I feel like a fish out of water without my training schedule. I've come to realize I've lost my balance somewhere along the line.

I've decided to take up yoga again. This time it is a little different; I'm committing to a real yoga guru who does yoga out of her home. Her name is Lisa, from Lisa's Yoga.

 

This is her classroom. Beautiful, right?

Last night was my first class and words cannot describe how I felt when I had left. I walked in not knowing anyone and without any expectations. The room above was set-up with 10 foam pads we could put our yoga mats on. Some students were already laying on the ground with blankets provided by the studio. Everyone was already so relaxed and calm. We started off by doing some meditation and deep breathing, followed by some warrior poses and stretches.

To end the class, Lisa has us resume our corpse pose and as we all set into our deep relaxation she had shared the following story. This really struck a cord with me and I wanted to share it with you all.

The Story of the Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if it couldn’t go further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily but
it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch it,
expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge
and expand enough to support the body,
Neither happened!
In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around.
It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness
and haste did not understand:
The restricting cocoon and the struggle
required by the butterfly to get through the opening
was a way of forcing the fluid from the body
into the wings so that it would be ready
for flight once that was achieved.

Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives.
Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.
We will not be as strong as we could have been
and we would never fly.

 

This resonated with me the rest of the night. Sometimes it takes a story like that to really open your eyes to what is going on around you and to accept the challenges you are faced with.

Can you relate to this story?

What do you do to find balance in your life?