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Balancing Effort with Ease
A good friend of mine faced the scare of a life-
threatening illness. Uncertain of his destiny, he
began to indulge in many externals…a new boat,
several family trips, along with material gifts for his
family to name a few examples. Ironically, the
disease he was facing was a disease of lifestyle
choices—that of excess. Do you know of someone in
a similar situation? When faced with a serious,
Western disease—a disease brought on
by “overdoing”—this person spoils themselves with
even more of what got them in trouble in the first
place?
In yoga, we practice balancing effort with ease—sukha
and sthira. In your healing process, you may find
yourself in many uncomfortable moments. Your yoga
practice is a metaphor for these uncomfortable
situations. As you move into certain poses, they may
feel awkward and challenging. You are encouraged to
use effort (sukha) but balance this with ease (sthira).
Ease may also be referred to as “surrender.” As you
begin to let go of your attachments, you can surrender
into your healing work. In turn, you begin to feel
lighter—spiritually lighter.
You may also find, in the early stages of your healing
work, that you become physically ill. If you are not
allowing feelings to come to the surface, they will
manifest themselves physically. Or, perhaps feelings
do come up or you. You notice that you are crying
more often or begin to have stronger feelings than
usual. This is when many individuals want to bail
from their healing program.
One client was confused because she was crying
more during our program. In her former treatment
program, she never cried or elicited any emotion. She
thought there was something wrong with this
behavior, when in actuality it was a breakthrough.
Another client told our staff that in her former treatment
program, they “talked” about feeling. The Reconnect
with Food® program offered her the first experiential in
actually “feeling” vs. simply talking about feeling. Yet
another client told us of how her former treatment
program focused on food—counting, measuring, and
weighing…where our program focuses on the
emotion behind the food.
Perhaps the balancing of effort and ease is observing
the discomfort you may find in new approaches to your
healing, but yet surrendering into these new
approaches without judgment or attachment to the
outcome. Observe your body, your breath and your
behavior without reacting or judging. Let go vs.
accumulating more. And of course, be kind to
yourself.
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Yoga-Based Professional Development
Program for Eating Disorder Recovery --in Miami,
Florida--is
the place to
be in July 2010! Learn more about obtaining a
certificate in yoga therapy for eating disorder recovery.
Early bird registration ends this month!
Click here
Reconnect with Food Blog
Click here to participate in regularly posted
questions
Inner Door Center Yoga-Based Eating
Disorder Treatment Programs
Located in the eclectic and trendy town of Royal Oak,
MI. Ask about housing for those who live out of the
area.
We participate with several health/managed care
plans.
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