My Yoga Journal Day 40: It's All About The Journey Yo!

Yoga teaches me that almost is enough.

​So, here I am. The forty day challenge ended on Sunday and I’m crossing the finish line on a Tuesday. Some of us finished the 30 classes in 40 days and some of us didn’t reach our goal. If you did...Congratulations!!! If you didn’t complete the challenge, that’s okay! I was going through it with all of you and obstacles arose....they don’t call it challenge for nothin’! On some days we were tired and listened to our bodies, resting instead of going to yoga. On others we realized that pushing through isn’t the point - maybe we needed to connect with friends or family and going to a public yoga class just didn’t make sense for our schedule.

In everyday life, we set goals and sometimes the manifestation of them takes a different path from the one that we envision. That’s okay - that’s the point actually. It’s a freeing thought that we don’t control every little detail that unfolds in our day-to-day lives. We set intentions, do the work and see the results unfold.

When I released my third album, The Essence, last year I thought that it would be an instant success. However, things didn't unfold how I intended. People were into it, but it didn’t receive the big splash that I thought it would, that I felt it deserved. I suffered through a kind of creative postpartum depression, disconnected from my artistic creation because I felt like it wasn’t being listened to or understood. Also, the project went way over budget, so I ended up in debt.

Still coming out of this debt in the early summer, I didn’t attend summer solstice for financial reasons. I was bummed because I really needed the inspiration and wanted to be with my yoga community. Still in Texas during the festival, I received a text from a close friend telling me that after White Tantric they played a song from my album several times and it made so many people happy!

That made me feel SO good! I intended or thought that this kind of reception would take place a year earlier. But that’s how things unfold, in a way that we intend, yet in a way that’s unpredictable. We have to trust that the work we do is enough, and then let it go, sit back, and watch our work become visible.

I received some good advice from a wise lady recently: “DON’T EVER GIVE UP! but DO slow the f*** down!” And sometimes we need to remind each other of that. We do a lot. Less is more and we each move at our own pace and that’s beautiful. As long as we keep trying, who cares how long it takes.

Yoga’s taught me that. As a teacher I watch people move into different shapes, each body so unique and different, flowing and breathing at their own pace. I’ve been injured and had to start all over again, adapting my pain-filled body into child’s pose for most of class. And some classes I’ve felt like a badass, taking on shapes that felt and looked goddess-like.

On the days we don’t make it or don’t feel good enough, and we all know what that feels like, we can remind ourselves that almost is enough and let go of the extra judgement and shame for not being perfect or for falling short of our goal. The achievement is in the trying, taking risks when our intuition calls us, and staying committed to our calling.

So, this is my last 40-day post. I plan on continuing a post each week on Mondays from this page and a reprise of these 40 posts from Robin Bruce YogaSong page.

Thank you for listening and your encouragement. Sharing my life with you in this way has facilitated a big heart opening and I hope there is some resonance in here for you, too. Above all, I hope my posts encourage you to build your own yoga, meditation, or other ritual practice that reminds you that you are SO special and precious.

When we love and honor ourselves in this way it creates a spark that I believe can change the world, beginning with our little world first. The quote says that “the way out is in” and I believe it because I’ve experienced it. I want you to have an experience of yourself too; and that is my intention for posting and sharing tools to support your self- discovery.

Thank you for listening!
Love,
~Robin ​