A Peaceful Life through Yoga and Organization
September 3, 2009 by thepranamama
Filed under Yoga
As a follow-up to a previous post last month entitled “Bless This Mess,” The PranaMama is proud to welcome Professional Organizer and Author Lea Schneider as its first guest blogger.
Seated on my yoga mat, I inhaled deeply of the gentle scent of incense. Stretching, my vision moved across the shiny hardwood floor and scooted to the corner of the room. A candle flickered in the corner. I exhaled and felt that unusual combination of peace and energy flow around me.
It dawned on me why I love yoga so much. It is so orderly. It is measured in increments of breath in and breathe out. The mats are lined in rows. The room is clean, clear and uncluttered. We move in unison.
That day, I commented to my yoga instructor that we had similar jobs.
“How so,†she asked, knowing that I am a professional organizer.
“You bring peace to the inside of a person. I help bring peace to the outside, to their surroundings,†I said. “We meditate in this wonderful, peaceful environment you have created for us. How much harder this would be to replicate at home when you space if filled with piles of paperwork, stacks of books and assorted clutter.â€
Getting organized can indeed make you feel like you’ve been having a wonderful yoga session. You can literally feel the stress draining from you as you bring order to your life.
I’m a yoga baby. As a novice, I’m still in the gentle yoga class and feel ever so pleased when I can touch a bit more of the floor or find a bit more flexibility.
Practicing organizing is the same. Just as it would not be wise to begin yoga in the advanced class, neither would you want to try to organize everything at once. Choose one thing, then focus and finish.
There are so many things that can make your space more peaceful. It might be having dinner on the table every night. It might be finding and paying your bills on time. It might be finding the missing floor of your walk-in closet. It might be all of it!
But, treat it like you would yoga. Choose a goal. Take a deep breath. Focus on that goal. Work on that one area or task until you look at what you accomplished and it makes you smile. Then you can think about that next task. Finding that peace around you can indeed help you find that peace inside you.
Namaste,
Lea
Professional Organizer Lea Schneider, owner of Organize Right Now, provides organizing and consulting for everything from piles of papers to walk-in closets missing their floors to heaps of kids’ toys through an Organize Online program at her website www.organizerightnow.com.
She is the author of Growing Up Organized: A Mom-to-Mom Guide. Her organizing advice has appeared in Woman’s Day, Natural Health, Better Homes and Gardens Kids’ Rooms and College News magazines, numerous websites and newspapers. She was named the Grand Prize Winner for the Rolodex Office Makeover Challenge for the best office design and organizing plan.
A resident of Pensacola Florida, she shared that there isn’t anything on the floor of her closet. Her favorite must haves…coffee, pretzel crisps, a weekly dinner menu, yoga class and lots of permanent markers.
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I have experienced over and over the peace that an organized space brings to us all. I long ago recognized that one reason people enjoy places like a Pottery Barn store is that we like walking through and viewing such a neat and also visually interesting space because it is clean and orderly. It inspires us to do the same. You don’t have to buy their products to achieve that, you just have to go home and clean!
I am not a Yoga baby yet but I begin next week. Meantime, I’ll create a weekly dinner menu starting today while I finish my coffee. Thanks for the inspiration.
Love how you relate learning yoga to getting organized. One thing at a time. Sometimes I am overwhelmed with the enormity of the task, and the fact that if I don’t keep up on it, the snowball effect comes into placy. You have inspired me to tackle small projects at a time, and to breathe.
The other hint I was given years ago was to set a timer for 15 minutes and organize one space(drawer, closet, cupboard, room)for that time. When the buzzer sounds you can walk away knowing you have done one job, or keep going. I often end up continuing. Either way you win the organizational war.
I have learned so much from Lea and now from my mom and Donna! I am feeling much more peaceful since putting some of these ideas into action in my home – not easy with a toddler whom I liken to a tornado with his toys and sippy cups. But as he grows, if I’ve got some systems down, I can teach him how to be organized, and peaceful, in his surroundings.
Lea – One thing I’ve struggled with is finding a place at home where I can practice yoga. One of the biggest obstacles has been finding a clear space. I tried doing it in my office, but the files and ringing phone and ding of my email inbox made it impossible to relax. I also tried the playroom but you can imagine how long that lasted. It was far too stressful to have the task of cleaning up and clearing out my space before I could begin my practice.
I’ve finally created a peaceful and clean space in my basement, where I even hung a pair of crisp white curtains to block the view of my husband’s tool bench, overstacked shelves of old cans of paint, and several unfinished projects. Now I go downstairs, away from my family and the rest of my house (where I spend most of my time as a stay-at-home-mom), turn on my relaxing yoga music, stretch out my mat atop a sunshine-yellow woven rug, and close those curtains! I am alone, relaxed and in another world for an hour or so.
Wow – even though it is now 11:30 p.m. this comment is making me want to practice right now!
Amy, thank you for this wonderful article from Lea. My issue is that I have a difficult time taking time out for yoga when my house is a mess. So many yoga lessons here – being okay/content with what is, living in the present moment, non-attachment, etc. I’m looking forward to reading your most recent blog about beta vs alpha moms…ha ha!
It sounds like you found a great solution for yoga practice. I like that you hung sheets to block things from view.
When I help people organize their home office, especially if they primarily work from home, I encourage them to have some office hours. In those off hours, turn down the ringer…send calls to voice mail. Turn off the email. Our trying to be available 24/7 is unrealistic. We’d never give that advice to a friend. We’d tell our friend to have a time to relax.
I like the comment about living in the moment. Organizing is like that. I often say “focus and finish.” We are often not in the moment. We are rushing from one task to another. This creates disorganization. If we can make ourselves stay in the moment- finish the task, put away the supplies, put away the dry laundry and so forth, we will be more organized and more peaceful.
Lea, you are my peacemaker! My office is now finally organized and clutter-free. I am in heaven. I’ve even got my husband starting to keep up with my systems of organization, and I had thought he was a lost cause years ago.
From now on, I will “focus and finish” and not try to constantly juggle so much at once, unless absolutely necessary.
I am suggesting your book to everyone I know.