Day 11/30 - But...

Time for practice. But...I don't wanna. This pillow is way too comfy.

Day 11 is the first day this month that I really didn't want to practice. But...I did. 

Day 9/30 Control

It's been 8 days of consistent home practice.  8 days of early rising.  8 days of self-discipline. And on the 9th day, I rested.

Today, I relinquished control into the hands of a trusted teacher in a studio I love. On Wednesdays, sometimes I treat myself to a mid-week mini yoga retreat.  An hour and a half of Yin (passive) yoga, followed by an hour and a half of Vinyasa (flowing yoga).  It's blissful and indulgent and awesome.

Finding a yoga teacher with whom you connect is not always easy. Even with well trained, experienced teachers, sometimes it just doesn't work.  It's like a bad first date. You know it's not going to work in the first few minutes, but you're kinda stuck until it's over.

Finding a teacher you like isn't about finding something easy.  It's about finding a place where you connect with the teacher's cues and understand the message. It's a place where you find that perfect combination of feeling safe and inspired enough to push yourself and play your edges.

8 days into this 30 day yoga journey, I have learned unbelievable lessons through introspection.  Today, more than ever, I learned to appreciate the gift of relinquishing control.

Namaste.

Day 6/30 Le Petite Practice

I am lucky to have been blessed with really really good girl-friends.  These girls play hopscotch over the lines that divide friends from family.  They are members of an elite force known as Sister Friends.

They are the first to arrive and the last to leave. When things get hard, they show up harder.  When things are great, they celebrate most openly and share all your successes. 

This weekend, I had the great good fortune to spend about 24 hours with one such Sister Friend. She treated me to a play for my birthday.  We ate some meals, played with her kids and then stayed up way too late sharing a bottle of wine, gabbing like teenagers.

She's a fellow yogi and we've always talked about practicing together. When  we're together, we never have time to go to a studio.  So, this time we did yoga where and when we had the time.  The where turned out to be the kitchen floor. The when was the last 25 minutes we had before l had to leave.  

One of the other impediments to yoga at home is , understandably, what does one do with the kids?  Her 6 year old son contentedly played Legos.  And her 4 year old daughter grabbed a mat and joined us!  We didn't modify the practice. We just gave her simple cues and she followed along.  It was so sweet and perfect.  She sat her petite self down and did her best.

She added a sweetness to the practice that couldn't have happened any other way. <3

Day 4/30 - Perfection

This morning, I started out thinking about perfection.  A read a little about finding the perfection of a moment, not the result.  Relishing in and learning from the moment, rather than just celebrating the victory is is a concept that's important in many areas of our lives.  As an example, I bake Christmas cookies with my sisters every year.  We talk about it for weeks and it turns into an ordeal every year. I don't even like some of the cookies we make.  Baking cookies is kind of pricey and time consuming, as well.  We do it every year because the value of the project comes from the process. We get something important from the process of talking about it, sharing recipes and passing traditions down to the next generation. If we didn't end up with a great product at the end, we'd still do it. This morning, I connected more deeply with the idea of learning from the journey by experiencing it.

Dhanurasana or bow pose is something that is usually pretty accessible for folks.  At least from my observations in various classes, it appears to be pretty accessible.  I've been practicing yoga for 6 years and I still can't do it. I can grab one leg or the other, but not both.  Over the years, I've learned to either grab my pant legs or sometimes a kind teacher will wrap a strap around my ankles.

My shoulders are excessively tight and I've always believed that this was why I can't fully express the pose. So I quickly grapple with my pant legs and get as close as I can. Then I usually suffer through the last remaining breath of the pose and wait for it to end.

This morning, I decided to try it out. I tried grabbing both legs, but didn't manage it.  Then I decided to try one leg and then the other and took the time to really stretch through each side.  By listening to my body and really feeling the pose, I learned that the problem might not be entirely in my shoulders.  When I stretched through one side, my biceps hurt...badly.  This gives me a totally new perspective to work through.

The end result hasn't changed at all.  I still can't do Dhanurasana.  But my perspective on the pose has changed dramatically.  Exploring this pose without regard to falling behind in class or feeling foolish for not being able to do it has afforded me the perspective to be open to what might actually be going on.  Yoga isn't about bending into the perfect pose.  Today it was about being open to the moment and realizing how perfect it was just because it happened.

Namaste.

Day 3/30 Savasana already?

Three days into this 30 day challenge and I feel excited.  Poor Bruno was rushed through his morning walk because I was anxious to hit my mat.

I am out of bed by 5:45.  After walking and feeding Bruno, it's 6:30 by the time I am settled on my mat for the first OM.

Practice was smooth and invigorating. I had set a goal of finding time for some back bending today.  My timer went off just after my warrior series.  Oops!

Always ending practice with Savasana or Corpse/final resting pose is really important for the nervous system.  So, I added a few minutes for that, but it still didn't feel like enough.

Tomorrow, I either need to get up earlier (ugh) or streamline differently.  We'll see what happens in the morning. 

Namaste.

Day 2/30

Day 2/30

Feeling momentum on this path. Jogged about half of the Bruno walk. 

Made the mistake of stopping to take care if the cats before practice.  By the time I hit my mat, all I wanted to do was yin.  

Yin practice was ok today, but rushed.  One thing I learned today, you can't rush yin.  

Yoga every day

After a long indulgent birthday weekend in New York City, my body is ready for some Spring Cleaning.  While walking Bruno yesterday, I broke into a jog just because it felt good.

We were up extra early because Bruno hates me.  The bonus was that I had lots of time before my regular morning routine.  So, I grabbed my yoga mat and set up shop in the office/craft room/that sounds like a good spot for X room.

I set a time for 30 minutes and let it flow. Sometimes I forget that I've been practicing yoga for so long.  It's been 6 years.  Yoga class is inspiring and motivational.  It's like a brand of continuing education. Yoga practice is about showing up.  

For the next 30 days, I promise myself that I will show up everyday to practice. 

Day 1/30 was surprisingly refreshing and really really hot.  Nothing like a good sweat to start a day!

Namaste.