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Lola J

@lolajontiff

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I didn’t grow up a dancer, but I grew up dancing… so to speak.

I think most of you know I grew up in Miami. I certainly have students who remind me that I talk about it enough. (Some of you are reading this… hi! lol)

I grew up dancing like this at family gatherings with parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends. This was what a lot of high school parties looked like for me. Looking back, I think it was one of the most important relationships with my body and self expression I had at the time. A sense of freedom.

Movement is healing in so many forms. The relationship we have with our bodies matters, and finding a variety of ways to move, play, express, create and connect with ourselves keeps that relationship vital as we move through the different seasons of life.

Sometimes it’s a yoga mat. Sometimes it’s a dance floor. Sometimes it’s a kitchen. Whatever keeps you moving. by @lolajontiff

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a day ago

All parts of me & you are welcome here. Say hi to my Scorpio Moon in her depths.

This one is definitely a MOOD piece. Grateful I can give a voice to these parts of myself.

Words have always been my favorite…poetry, writing, speaking, reading… It feels good to be sharing more of my writing. 🦋

::

Winter coldness stings my heart as I stand in scorched skin…

My eyes; they do not tear, they bleed.

My parched throat scratches to swallow

Still water filled lungs gasp for basic human rights

In stillness… frozen river… scorched earth…

Not now. Let life come when I’m available for it. by @lolajontiff

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2 days ago

I stood the past couple mornings and my whole body felt weak. Tender. Almost strangely overworked yet supple...

My hands are still raw and tender. It’s sore to move them.

I was mostly still this weekend, aside from ocean jumps to keep me cool in this 90+ heatwave - which I am ultimately loving. I’ve been on Zoom practicing and learning about (body scan meditation) Yoga Nidra and polyvagal theory… connecting to my body in increasingly subtle ways.

I’ve studied how much muscular effort exists inside of bracing. How sometimes we don’t actually register the fatigue until the system begins to shift gears.

It’s different to live it.

There is grief pouring out of me right now. Emotionally and physically.

This weekend I met a gripping one in me. A tired one. A mangled one.

I’m realizing that becoming more intimate with the body does not necessarily mean immediately feeling better. Simultaneously, I feel more present than I have in a long time.

The softening doesn’t always feel soft at first. Sometimes it feels empty, numb, heavy, delicate, sharp, inflamed. And that’s ok.

Sometimes we aren’t ready to release it yet and that’s ok.

Sometimes deep rest brings an awareness of sensations we were (ineffectively) holding ourselves together to avoid.

Softening can be the fall & winter we embrace when the life we are living is costing too much to hold onto. The release does not heal the exhaustion; it reveals it. That’s ok.

Big heartfelt thanks to the facilitators of the iRest meditation community by @lolajontiff

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10 days ago

Returns to self are so simple they can be complex.

Then something happens, and simplicity returns.

We return to simplicity. We return to self.

Simplicity doesn’t look like orienting myself around an unaccomplishable ideal of who I need to be and what healing looks like… that’s complex. And I’ve found it to be draining and unsustainable.

Simplicity looks like slowing down & asking myself why I’m doing everything I’m doing (as a practice not an attachment to being perfect). And only keep the absolutely necessary for the established goal. Not to reach for it but to nurture it. To nuture life itself through the life we are given.

I return to simplicity through the nourishment of all aspects of self… sitting w tea in the morning. Hands in clay. A deep breath + closing my eyes to Remember when the mind & the world get loud. Loving on my kitties. Moving my body with my breath. Being outside. Jumping in the ocean. Practicing cleanliness in body, space, mind & heart. Even preparing my taxes.

Being in the world as it is and simply returning. Being. by @lolajontiff

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19 days ago

When you’re friends with a yoga therapist… by @lolajontiff

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4 months ago

An action is not only a drop - an isolated event. An action is the drop, the water and the ripple that ensues when they meet.

This is one of my favorite basic descriptions of karma.

We save energy by building more awareness around the nature of life and ourselves. With this study we begin to understand preemptively what the ripple of a certain choice might look like. And we can conserve - and, thusly more effectively concentrate - our energy in considering this before we commit to a choice.

The grace in this is, there is no wrong choice. The greatest teacher is experience. And your experience is exactly what you’re supposed to be living.

Yet another catch 22 ✨🙏🏼 by @lolajontiff

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10 months ago

In holistic medicine, practitioners will often look at movements and stagnation - movement being an expression of vitality and stagnation being a lack of (vitality).

To have a vital life force is essential. To be in motion is essential.

Once we encourage movement, whether it be on or off our mats, we begin to get more nuanced by looking at our form. How are we moving? Why are we moving that way? Are our patterns serving the current circumstances? Where do we go from here?

Particularly, patterns of movement teach us about ourselves - again, on and off our mats. We learn about ourselves; we learn about our conscious and, perhaps, subconscious motives which allow for us to befriend ourselves and guide ourselves into a pattern which feels more connected to our presence and sincerity…

And then the process repeats itself ad infinitum…

Would love to receive some thoughts and perspectives on this 🙏🏼🤍

#yogatherapy #yogaphilosophy #mindbodyconnection #healingthroughyoga by @lolajontiff

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a year ago

Anyone else have some breakthrough thoughts in the shower?

(Nuances not included…)

#groundedlivingdaily by @lolajontiff

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a year ago

YS 2.7 | Attachment is that which follows identification with pleasurable experiences.

Our attachment to our ideas of the fabulous, the exciting, the perfect, the extravagant, the phenomenal takes away from the inherently phenomenal nature of each simple moment and experience life has to offer. There is so much in our ability to get out of our ego’s self-serving, self-concerned nature and to get lost in what the moment calls for.. to be of service to a greater purpose than ‘me & mine’… to find joy in being part of and playing my human role in this human matrix by @lolajontiff

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a year ago

Yoga is a practice of being in yourself in order to access your Self.

Root to rise - so to speak. It is grounding down and being in this body, in this space, on this planet Earth with presence which allows us to rise beyond it and this allows us to approach what is with a clarity empowering our reverence for being.

Each movement is a blessing, each moment is a blessing - and when we learn to see what actually is, rather than what is in our minds, we learn to see beyond the seen. We become seers. taken in Laguna Beach, California by @lolajontiff

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a year ago

“Do what you do with another human being but never put them out of your heart.”
- Ram Das (an avid activist) quotes Kabir

… I have gone through so many phases in life, in myself, in my political stances and involvement…

More recently, I’ve been one who shies away from being too educated about what’s going on to avoid from having too fierce or extreme of an opinion. Additionally, my experience with some really extreme cultures and communities taught me the danger of living in extreme belief systems based off of black and white perspectives….

I’ve taken a huge step back from a fiercely liberal approach to social aspects of politics…

Living in one of the few predominantly red counties in California has given me the opportunity to speak with many people who see politics and the world very differently than me. Feeling impelled, identifying more as a yogi (than a liberal - thank Spirit) gave me the sane mind to have conversations and seek to understand why people believe in what they believe in and what they believe in - despite my personal, left-leaning ideals.

I am inspired now to have a political voice again - to a certain extent.

I don’t know how any of this is going to develop or turn out… or if it will continue… I do know that part of being spiritual or being a yogi is being invested in the material world and infusing it with guiding principles & remembering there is greater Karma and Spirit working in all of our lives - on an individual and collective level.

So here I am, despite some of my fierce opinions, encouraging we embrace a softness without sacrificing our beliefs. The power to listen to our brothers and sisters who may be different.

Too many extreme voices in the space which only push us further and further away from one another. This isn’t about light and love - it’s about effectiveness and efficiency and being realistic.

Perhaps it’s idealistic.. only one way to find out ✨🙏🏼 by @lolajontiff

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a year ago

Friendly reminder not to forget 🤍 humans are the great forgetters and to tap into our connection to Spirit is to remember. To Love is to remember.

My morning practices have been so disciplined for years. In the past year I have opened my mind and heart to new ways and flowing into what my medicine is for the morning. Embracing the Divine Feminine aspect of flow…

Very grateful for my path and all of the challenges to move past resistance & into the gifts so many beautiful people and experiences have brought into my life - not all of them easy, yet all of them so Divine.

Song is
@ajeetmusic Light of My Soul by @lolajontiff

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a year ago