house training

I just bought a house which is exhilarating, joyous and terrifying! Most amusingly the thing that terrifies me the most is not the home ownership stuff; the repairs, the up keep, the mortgage. Nope for me the hardest thing about owning a home is the cleaning. I’m a little bachelor-esque, a little messy, not dirty just…untidy. I’m so excited about my very first, very own home that I want to invite people over for dinner and coffee and deck time and dog dates but that means I have to keep my house presentable; tidy! Enter yoga.

I few months ago I was reading a brief article in Yoga Journal about respecting inanimate objects; I know it sounded a little kooky to me too. At first. The article brought up the question of why studio owners place emphasis on having students remove their shoes before entering the studio, stowing props just so and even folding blankets in a certain pattern. Which brought to my mind several studios I’ve worked for which had (to me at the time) ridiculously strict rules about the exact placement of blanket folds. But as the article went on it began to explain that learning to have respect for the little things brings awareness to our daily lives and thus that attitude of respect seeps into the larger things. Have you ever been rushed? So rushed that when you walk into your office, home or get into your car that you throw your bag into the seat or onto the desk or floor? Only to find later that your watch, earrings, fountain pen has broken. Because you didn’t have respect for your bag you now have blue ink all over its contents. So I decided to implement this concept of respecting all objects into my life in preparation for moving into my home. I would no longer disrespect the dishes by leaving them for days (yes days) dirty in the sink, I would no longer disrespect my coats by tossing them on the chair or floor when I walked in and I would place my bag in a designated spot with much less force (much the delight of my reading glasses). And all was well. Not! This stuff is hard, breaking habits is a struggle and no singular tactic works for everyone. But this is the tactic I utilized.

Smother it in love! This is a phrase I use when teaching. Because I don’t shy away from teaching difficult asanas to my students I try to make them feel completely supported by me but also by themselves. I tell them when they are practicing an asana they fear or just plain don’t like to take mental step back and smother that asana in love. Within that pose there is something to learn, something to be gained and maybe all you need it to try a different perspective. Instead of approaching it with fear or anger try to embrace it. Love it, love it so much that it submits to you and you find joy in your body while in that asana. And that is the tactic I have brought to my house keeping. I don’t like doing the dishes but I love having a clean sink in the morning. So I take that love of the final outcome and smother the process in it. And that helps me through the process. Even things I really dislike like laundry seem doable because I have so much love for my new house and I use that love to teach myself how to make it a home. I can even smile with my dish pan hands.