I recently got trapped inside someone else’s parking garage.

It was in a brand new building that is still under construction, so things were temporarily set up for use while construction finished.

When I left the condo of the client I was visiting, I knew that I had just enough time to commute to my next meeting.

When I get to the parking garage I look around for visitor parking, but there weren’t any signs posted because the building isn’t complete yet.

I end up walking all the way to the 3rd floor beneath ground level without finding visitor parking, and walking all the way up to the street level exit, without seeing my car.

I decide to go back to where I started and check if I can get out of the elevator on another floor, but the doors to the elevator bays are locked. I can't get out of the garage or back into the building.

I try to call the person I was visiting but of course there’s no cell service this far below ground.

I am already 20 minutes late for my next meeting, wondering what to do next. And this is when I realized that I wasn’t panicking.

This was a huge win for me.

One year ago, this situation would have been a completely different story.

I would have been crying, panicking, letting my mind run in anxious circles and having a full mental spiral -

-- worrying about how I would explain myself to my next meeting, feeling embarrassed or stupid for getting lost, and being the victim of this unfinished parking garage. 😅

Instead, I had a laugh at how ridiculous this situation was.

I felt a few deeper breaths, and kept on walking until I could get enough cell signal to call the person I was visiting to come find me and help me get to my car (finally!).

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This is what yoga off the mat can look like in our modern world.

You don’t need to sit in a cave meditating all day, working towards enlightenment.

Instead you can choose to use the tools from your practice - breath awareness, mental reframing, positive mindset, joy, gratitude, mindfulness - to behave as you would in a yoga class out in the ‘real world.’

At this point I don’t need to think about it - I behave this way because I’ve practiced pivoting from mental spiral and victim-mode to this calm, empowered, grounded, and present lifestyle.

Thanks in large part to real-life practices like mindful driving.

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And if you’re reading this thinking ‘that sounds nice but I’m way over here feeling like the victim of the parking garage (to coin a phrase), I’ve got an announcement coming next week about how you can bridge that gap.

Folks on my email list will be the first to hear about it. For first dibs and exclusive discounts, sign up with this link.