In our last post, we outlined what being mindful is all about. The Kula 30 Day Yoga & Mindfulness Challenge launches on Saturday May 3 and continues through Sunday June 1. As we get closer the challenge, we’re all about exploring the different areas of our busy lives that could benefit from placing emphasis on the present moment. It’s easy to focus on looking inward on our mats, but what about at home? Take a look around your abode. Does it make you feel calm and relaxed or is excess stuff a cause of stress?
Why keep the clutter?
What we’re actually holding onto aren’t the objects, but the meanings behind them. Clutter is like a manifestation of holding onto the past. We keep objects as souvenirs of previous feelings. While it’s lovely to look at a book on the shelf and remember the friend who gifted it, holding on to the book itself isn’t actually holding on to the loved one, we can do that internally. Keeping objects roots us in the past, disabling us from focusing on the present. Through yoga, we learn that non-attachment or vairagya, can help us release from fear and anxiety.
We also hoard objects because we think we need them for the future, just in case. “This extra set of cutlery will come in some handy if we have a dozen guests for dinner!” Sound familiar? The desire to be organised and ready is perfectly normal. However, we will never be fully prepared for the future, and trying to equip our lives for any outcome is not only tiresome, it also distracts us from seeing what is right in front of us.
Take action
Step one of your mindful de-cluttering mission should be to take inventory. What do you need and what is surplus? Could someone else (friends, family, charity) find more use of something extra you’re holding onto? Start with one room of your space at a time, mindfully going through each surface or drawer, and sort out your ‘must-keeps’ from your ‘could-do-withouts.’ Use this time, focusing on just one task, as its own meditation process.
Of course you it’s still possible to practice being mindful in a cluttered space, but ask yourself what you’re really holding onto. Only by accepting the past and not anticipating the future, can we fully engage in the present moment.
About the author: Miranda Raimon is a yoga instructor, Kula studio manager and freelance health & wellness writer from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Kula Yoga has a beautiful hot yoga studio on Camberwell Rd, Hawthorn, Melbourne. Kula offers ‘Hot Yoga’ classes for detoxification, dynamic poweryoga ‘Flow Yoga’ as well as a gentle ‘Light Yin Yoga’ option. Beginners through to advanced students are welcome to all classes. Kula also provides prenatal & postnatal yoga classes, and provides Melbourne workplaces with group corporate yoga programs to build employee health, fitness and wellbeing, and school yoga programs. Kula also runs an annual ‘Kula Cruise’ yoga retreat sailing from Bali to Lombok & the Gili Islands. Find out more on our website www.kulayoga.com.au. Or follow us:
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