After a week in town of seeing clients, I inevitably return to the mountain on weekends exhausted and depleted. Not until I get alone and quiet – stretching and opening and ultimately dropping the painful beliefs and stories that I've accumulated from my week – can I regroup, rest and restore my sanity and health.
It's sort of like the way my car windshield gets smeared with bug juice and gunk when I take long trips … in the same way my personal bubble gets gummed up with the ideas and projections of other people.
And If I don't take time, every day to clear those, I find that I get bogged down with negativity – with limiting ideas that I've taken on as if they were true – other people's beliefs about me, for instance that I start acting on without being aware of it.
Weekends offer me longer periods of quiet and release through yoga and qigong. Releasing through the body helps restore and center my mind.
By taking time to notice and release the limiting stories I carry I'm able to restore my ability to witness without judgment.
This is yet another reason for establishing a regular spiritual practice.