It’s time to get nosy and learn a little more about the wonderful people behind the brands supporting the Yoga Stops Traffick 2021 campaign!
Back in 2008, Esther Ekhart shared her love of yoga through her YouTube channel and from there co-founded EkhartYoga.com. What started with a handful of teachers grew into one of the most established online yoga and meditation platforms, with over 20 styles of yoga and movement. Their mission has remained the same, to share the love of yoga to create positive transformation in the world, delivered with authenticity and with love from the heart.
We are so grateful to have these warm-hearted yogis supporting Yoga Stops Traffick 2021! Read on for EkhartYoga’s founder, Esther’s, 3 top tips for practicing self-care during uncertainty.
1. The sacred pause
Intentionally stop your rushing around and your mental activities, take a conscious deep breath in and out, and for a minute or two, simply pause and notice your inner experience. Recognise your inner experience of what is going on right now, and allow it. Ask yourself the question, can I be with it, or even can I let it be?
Do this several times a day, whenever you think about it.
When we pause, we possibly disrupt our habitual behaviors, and we automatically open to new ways of responding to our often unconscious wants and fears. Also when we pause we turn towards our experience, instead of running away from what we feel. the degree we can be with what is determines our ability to be at peace with the reality of the moment.
2. Acknowledge your fear
Distracting yourself is not going to work long term, we know that, we tried it most of our lives. Acknowledging fear (or any emotion for that matter) and being with the feeling of fear has the ability to bring you powerfully into the moment. When you turn up you are able to enter into the feeling you are experiencing.
When you know what you feel (fear), you are in the same ground where you are able to feel love. So you become vulnerable to feel love, which as a result will disarm fear. The mechanism by which we feel love is the same mechanism by which we feel fear. Feeling love is the antidote to feeling fear.
The felt experience of love has the power to dismantle fear and cut right through it. It is not always easy to find that individually, but the knowledge that more people are facing their fears, if we do it together, we can lean on each other, and lean on feelings held by a community.
Just say to yourself, I feel a little afraid right now, acknowledging, recognising as well you are not alone, that more people are feeling fearful right now, our shared humanity, and that we are all connected that way. This is how you feel love. Love is the refuge of fear. You can feel the fear and turn it into love. But you first have to feel it.
3. Be ok with not knowing
When I seem to be invested in an outcome or think something needs to go a certain way, I have the sentence “maybe yes, maybe no” ready to apply to the situation. Basically we just don’t know what is the right outcome or way, and it can be very liberating to acknowledge that we don’t know. Regularly say to yourself “I don’t know”. This way you keep your mind and heart open to all possibilities and you allow your life to unfold as it may, lead by a wisdom that goes beyond your mind.
I hope these little tips may be of help to you during uncertain times.
With love from me to you,
Esther Ekhart
