The Big Rock Stretch…
I am just about to go out to stretch on the top of the big rock…
It lends itself to stretching, a sort of ‘place to go’ like setting off to the gym or a yoga class… I am going to the big rock to stretch. If I take the ‘to’ out of the sentence then it seems even more interesting…
‘I am going to ‘the big rock stretch…’ I like it!
It is funny how we can change our lives by simply changing the way we view things. Stretching can sometimes feel a bit of a drag, but as you have perhaps seen in my vlogs, I like incorporating stretching into my life in a fun way; sometimes with cat companions on top of a roof in Morocco, or here on top of a big rock,..
There seems to be a bit of a theme going on here!
But it remains that as humans we create our reality through our mind; this illusion we live in can be manipulated simply by changing the way we look at it…
So a slightly overcast day where the sun hasn’t shone much, and going out to stretch doesn’t feel all that appealing can be transformed by the title
I am off to ‘The big rock stretch…’
I have also invited Anadi, and he is up for a big rock stretch, so that is the event of the afternoon – before it gets dark…
Darkness falls in a flash here; one minute light the next dark.
Perhaps it is like that everywhere but I notice it more here. sunrise and sunset always provide a dramatic spectacle and the big rock stretch will give me a wonderful view of the setting sun which even on a cloudy day can be a sight to behold.
And lunch was fun today… What do you want for lunch? ‘I think I’ll have chilli chocolate por favor…’ And so this is what I have had.
Who says lunch needs to be a sensible affair… Fun food has its place and the chocolate is the dark variety given to me by Athena Jane, so both the fact it is a gift of love and the fact it is dark chocolate mean that I perceive the lunch to hold very special qualities, magic in its energy; life enhancing, fun, slightly frivolous….
Again it is how we perceive things that can make a difference to our enjoyment of life. Although I wouldn’t choose to eat chocolate every day for lunch, I enjoyed it a lot today and I don’t have any part of me that feels I shouldn’t, or that it will harm me in any way, or make me fat.
There was a time when I was struggling with an eating disorder when my perception of chocolate for lunch would have been entirely different, and my attitude to the rigours of a daily training plan and ‘having to’ run / stretch/ do strength work were all a far more stressful event.
My life doesn’t look very different, but it feels different and I perceive many of the same things differently.
I have always been blessed with a fun energy and a sense of humour within all that has occurred in my life, which paradoxically helped me when I took life – at some levels – rather more seriously; but now it feels very different…
Essentially there is simply a level of deeper relaxation within me.
And this can make all the difference, letting go of tension within us, clearing all the reactions when we tense up against things…
Noticing how we perceive things, how we see things… Keeping an eye on our habitual thoughts, which way our energy turns when ‘things happen’ that we didn’t expect or maybe don’t like much.
Could we look at it differently? Could we press pause before we go down a habitual pattern of response?
The wonderful thing about being human is that we literally can change our lives by changing our attitude…
I have been running all of my life – it feels I was born to run. In the running step I experienced freedom and my true expression. I came to see that I needed to ‘get out of the way of myself’ and let my energy flow through the running step; allow it to express itself in the dance and the motion of running.
I have also worked in the lives of others as a guide, counsellor, healer and teacher for over 40 years.
I lived as a nomad for 6 years with my husband Anadi, but my inner voice brought me back to the UK in May 2019 and I have been living and working and running in London since then….
Julia Chi
Teacher of Life Skills
www.JuliaChiTaylor.com
www.BodhisattvaDiary.com
+44 (0)7908 239 464
