Automatic

I am a rock n' roll girl from Detroit but I must admit that I have developed an affection for country music after living here in Texas for more than half my life. One of my latest favorites is a song called "Automatic" by Miranda Lambert. She reminisces about how simple things were before everything became automatic: drying clothes outside on the line, a quarter in a payphone, and recording music from the radio on a tape cassette.

I was teaching a weight lifting class for another instructor a few weeks ago. As I instructed the class members on each exercise I reminded them to think about what they were doing, how each exercise felt and what muscles were supposed to be engaged. We do things so automatically in class (and all day).  It is time for squats so we pick up the same amount of weight we always do and put it on our bar. When it comes to the bicep curls we follow along without thinking about the muscles we are working and whether we are swinging our weights or really focusing on the movement.  I wanted them to feel a good soreness in every part of their body the next day because they paid attention to what they were doing.  

The same thing is true for yoga.  They know the warm-up and the what triangle poses are and what to do and they flow into them without thinking.  If we pay more attention, breathe deeply and really focus on what we are feeling we will get a better workout and a deeper experience on many levels.  

How are you going through your day?  Are you on auto pilot or really focused and paying attention to enjoy every moment and see opportunity where you just followed along before.  

Try it for a day and let me know how it goes. Turn off the autopilot.