LIVING YOGICALLY: Truth or dare
I recently bumped into my really good childhood friend, Erikka Cassa. It had been a while since we had seen eachother and we started to reminisce about the past. All the hilarious, great times we had. All the times we hurt ourselves riding motorbikes, or the times we would steal our parent’s homemade brandy. But my favourite memory was all the times we played TRUTH OR DARE.
The first thing that came to mind was when we were young and mischievous – daring each other to crank call people on the phone, asking if their fridge had run away, or the classic fake farting noises we would make into the receiver. We even played this game in highschool, daring Mon to kiss her boyfriend’s best friend only for her to get strep throat three days later.
I definitely preferred to choose dare over truth. I have a type-A personality and cannot resist a good dare plus I was always more than a little afraid of the truth. So this week I challenged myself to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. I can’t think of a more DARING thing to do! Here are some highlights from my week.
– When my friend asked me to go for coffee when I really did not feel like doing anything instead of saying I was busy volunteering at an old age home or whatever lie I wanted to use to cover up the fact that I did not feel like having coffee with him I said, “no thanks I don’t feel like it today.â€
– I themed many of my yoga classes around the concept of satya (which is the Sanskrit word for truth). When a student in my yoga class was forcing a pose I told her you know what I don’t think you are ready for this pose and you should take it down a notch or you are going to hurt yourself.
– I wrote an email to one of the yoga studios that I work at and told them I no longer wanted to work there. I told them the truth- I was not passionate about their studio and I was feeling overwhelmed. Well it is still saved as a draft but I vow to send it today.
Although these may seem like simple truths it was actually quite hard. We always think that it is better to tell a white lie to spare the feelings of others but the truth is better. Take my good friend Michelle for example, who put on 30 lbs one year and was asked by her little cousin if she was having a baby (kids are so honest). After the embarrassment passed she committed to stop eating McDonalds for lunch every day and exercise. She has never let herself go since. This truth changed her life for the better. Telling the truth may be harder in the moment but in the long run “the truth will set you free.†You can live your life from an honest, organic place and speak your mind. Nothing is more thrilling and empowering. Try it, I dare you!
Attend to the birthing of the radiant light within you. -Vijnana Bhairava Tantra
Peace, peace, peace
NAT
NEXT WEEK! Learning to tweet yogically