Yoga’s Not a Race

It’s a catch 22:

It's easy to fit practice in on vacation.

when you’re going through serious changes in life that are hard to process and deal with you have less time and patience for yoga.  When you try to meditate your mind races; and if you do manage to hit the mat you shove yourself through every posture, straining and making yourself a bit more miserable.  A few weeks ago I let an over-enthusiastic teacher talk me into trying some postures I knew I wasn’t ready for and ended up bawling (and completely embarrassed) in my frustration.

Today I approached the mat with an unintended and unexpected lightness: gliding in and out of a simple flow and focused on alignment and not giving myself more than I could handle.  About half way through the 20 minute session a little something hit me: Up until now I’ve been treating yoga like I have every other athletic pursuit I’ve ever made.  Yoga as conquest; always something to beat or run down, tackling a difficult posture whatever way necessary.  Yoga is not basketball.  Or rugby; or even one of the gentler pursuits like volleyball.  And if yoga is not a sport than perhaps I should approach it will less of a conquistador’s frame of mind.

The only prizes I approach the mat to win is a deeper piece of mind, greater sense of self, and the offering of each asana to my greatest potential self.

Monkey Yoga

…that’s probably enough touchy-feely for today, huh?

21 Day Yoga Challenge

I have little time this morning to write a proper post; please forgive the harried blasting, but I wanted to get this out before the moment passed.

In what feels like another life in another body I used to practice yoga… like, all the time.  I wasn’t thinner or cuter than I am now, just different.  I didn’t lift weights or do regular cardio so I wasn’t necessarily more ‘in shape’ but, as my mother in law lovingly pointed out yesterday, I was better at handling quiet time with myself and a more focused mind.  Well, 4 days ago in the checkout line at the Union Square Whole Foods (shudder… if you’ve never been there it’s a fine example of how people really are like animals when it comes to food) and this month’s Yoga Journal called out to me.  So I bought it.  And they’re doing a 21 Day Yoga Challenge aimed at people who were/are/kinda/maybe yogis who’ve gotten out of the practice of practice.

Today is day 1 and I got up at 5:30 for what I thought was going to be a 15 minute instructional video only to find it was a 45 minute.  My initial thought was ‘oh hell, I’m not going to be able to finish that!’ – but I did.  And while I haven’t yet had an epiphany about my life an yoga I did just do more yoga in the last hour than I’ve done in the last 6 months.