Meet Me On The Mat: Go Slowly

Apr 3

Written By

Good morning guys! How's it going? Have an awesome weekend?While the east coast is being treated with some April flurries and cold weather, here in LA, the sun's been shining with temps in the 70s. That's probably my favorite type of weather—a comfortable kind of warmth! (Other than east coast's fall season, of course.)My weekend flew by between wedding planning on Saturday and working an event on Sunday, so here's a short recap.FRIDAY I somehow convinced Sam to attend a special monthly sound bath at my yoga studio. It's a 90-minute relaxation workshop offered by the amazing Jamie Bechtold who even owns her own private gong/sound bath center in Eagle Rock.If you're wondering what the heck a sound bath even is, I promise a full "Feel Good Friday" recap on this experience later in the week;) SoundBathPromo SATURDAY was bu-sy. As soon as I woke after what felt like the deepest sleep in weeks (thanks, sound bath!), we got right to work on wedding details. We're quickly approaching the 2-month out mark, so with us being in CA and both our families in MA, there are lots of calls and emails during the day.This week, we finally—after weeks of research—decided on wedding favors, most gifts for our family/friends, and the plan for mailing all the invites soon. We're also very close to having a full song list for the course of the day. Music's so important to both of us, so that part's been a lot of fun.After a walk around town to shop/grab coffee, we headed to We're Pouring Saturday night for drinks and dinner and then headed home to kick it for the night!SUNDAY I fit in a morning workout at the gym and made myself a tasty lunch before heading to work at 3pm for the rest of the day/night.This brings me to today, Monday...MEET ME ON THE MAT: Go SlowlyThis week's mantra is quite simply, "Go slowly."Maybe you're like me—Type A.You've got a list of things to do and you're sometimes more concerned about checking them all off rather than mindfully making your way through each, no matter how long that may take. Though I practice yoga/meditation/mindfulness and work daily to self-improve in these areas, for someone who is also what I'd call "Type A", I tend to get uptight and anxious about what I have to get done. It's a work in progress type of thing;)That's why I'd say yoga helps me so much. It helps me to see things a bit differently off the mat.Anyway, here's where this mantra came in handy for me following an incident last week. I was rushing to make an order at a store one morning to get to work on time, so when leaving my parking spot, I quickly made a U-turn where I shouldn't have. I thought I was in the clear, so when a noticed a cop behind me with his lights on, I immediately was like, "CRAP!" My heart sunk.He scolded me, ticketed me, and watched me on my way. The funny thing was, I made it to work well on time, so my frantic nature to rush made no sense at all. If I had just slowed down, nothing ever would have happened.That's why I think it's so important to move deliberately and with intention. What's the rush anyway? Who's keeping tabs on me other than myself? Why risk an accident or a ticket? Why the anxiousness? Lesson learned.As disappointing as it was to get that ticket, it was a real eye-opener. There is no point in rushing through life, through traffic—even. Take the day as it comes and don't create more dilemmas for yourself that aren't there to begin with. Things are only as difficult as you make them. This is something I need to keep reminding myself...Are you in the same boat?And, as my dad would say, "You have to slow down to speed up." AriSmile Let that one sink in...Go slowly,Ari