Today I had the pleasure of sharing Yoga with my Uncle for his first time.

He is visiting me right now for a month- taking a little break from work, to take care of his health. Over the past year he has been suffering from a build up of health concerns including gout, high cholesterol and anxiety. He is more than open and ready to take his house serious this month- without sacrificing having fun with his family. The last couple days we got up and made fresh juices and then prepared fresh soup for later… this morning we got up and we practiced Yoga. He did great! Then a few hours later I decided it would be a good time for him to try snorkeling for his first time. A 50 some year old man with water anxiety, close to no water experience…we entered the laguna. Again he did great! He was snorkeling, he figured out how to stand up, he got his first mouthful of salt water and exposure to salty eyes. I hope that he will enjoy to try again in the next days and we can go somewhere where there is less seaweed and more fish!

What I learned:
I need to take my time more when explaining things… and remember that certain stretches and experiences are huge hurdles for some. Everyone has there own limited beliefs and everyone has their personal bests for the day. We are beautiful and unique. I feel like today was a success- however, I wish I would have even broke up our snorkeling into a few more steps to begin with,not truly understanding my Uncles fear of water to begin with. When his anxiety rose- I was very happy that we had previously had our Yoga class in the morning and were able to go back to our breathing.  I can’t wait for round to- my goal would be for us to take our time, plan to go only for 30 minutes and to go in shallow water where we can see the bottom. To stay calm and reassuring incase he begins to feel anxious 🙂
We won’t all have the same fears or anxieties, but we all have them. The anxious feeling in us, builds up and makes up short tempered and hard to breathe. I have seen anxiety rise and fall within myself and others around me these last couple days.
Simple tasks to some- seem nearly impossible to do for others.
Some examples: Thinking about leaving a toxic relationship, driving in traffic, entering the room of someone who is sleeping to grab someone (possibly invading someones privacy), not being able to stand in the water, being around a known toxicity to you (cigarette smoke), walking passed a large dog, asking someone for money. haha What might be a no-thinker for some is something that someone might spend all day thinking about. This is why we are unique. Now the key is- is to bring awareness to our anxiety and truth to the situation and really decide whether or not we can or would benefit from something, that we previously thought was impossible for us to accomplish.

Things I would defiantly like to work on:

Driving in traffic/in the city and in general.
Be more comfortable about money in exchange for my services.

Actually, I feel so blessed that my family is trusting me to share things with them.

Last year, my Aunty- my dads Sister came and visited and we went snorkeling for her first time! She was having problems breathing when she came – but she never let that stop her from trying… and she did soooo great! She loved watching the fish and turtles. Now she is also back and her health has improved so much.

I really believe that if you take a bath in nature- if you spend time outside playing ad adventuring, it help to heal you on all levels.

Thank-you for today!