It's been storming like crazy here in the SF Bay Area. This morning I woke up to the sound of thunder rattling the windows. It was mighty and impressive, and put me newly in awe of nature.
The last couple of days have been busy - the school semester has gotten underway, and I'm a TA for a pretty fun class. It pays woefully little, but it's rewarding nonetheless. It's also the class I've always wanted to TA, so there are good things happening on multiple levels.
This means, though, that my days are getting more full again. It's been good to have a couple of weeks without the pressures of schoolwork (I'm in a PhD program) pressing on me, but this is where I learn whether I can keep my yoga practice going.
Tuesday was the first class of the semester, and I came home to find my husband waiting for me, puzzled that I was so late. I thought he was going to be out, but he thought we were going to yoga together. Ah hah! I'd forgotten that my favorite teacher has class on Tuesday nights - just in time for me to get home from class, change, grab my husband, and head out again. It's a good thing, because Tuesdays are very long days, and having the yoga class at the end of the day will be daunting but will also make me actually do my yoga practice. This past Tuesday I was so tired that I barely got five minutes in.
Wednesday has also been busy, but what was nice is that I didn't feel like the day was complete until I unrolled my mat and did a half hour of yoga. It was late, I was tired, but I had to do it. It was a compulsion like brushing my teeth - I can't go to bed without it.
Taking this day by day and writing about it is helpful. This blog has already helped me stay on track, and I'm glad that so many of you are so supportive and find my yoga journey inspiring.
This week I'd like to write another installment of Yoga Nerd, we'll see if I've got the time!
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Comments
Gwen - the way I do it is that I just tell myself I don't have to do very much. Even five minutes is okay. I don't have to commit to an hour on the mat - at this point in my practice it would be too overwhelming. So I just unroll the mat, put relaxing music on, light candles if I have the energy to do that, and then I begin. I always start with sun salutations and then go from there. If I have a lot of energy I'll do 6 salutations (that's two on each side), and if I don't I'll just do 2 (1 on each side). From there I'll check my energy and do one to five standing poses, depending on my energy level, and then move into seated and inverted poses, and finally reclining poses and shavasana. If I've got a headache or some other malady, I skip the sun salutation and do a very simplified, gentle sequence.
The point is to unroll the mat and get my feet onto it, and do at least one active pose (whether it's a sun salutation or just downward dog). Once I've gotten started, my body takes over and is grateful, and I can make it to the finish.
I am a night owl, so doing yoga at night is no problem for me, though I prefer to do it during the day. But it's good to have a regular practice at a regular time, if you can help it. Not only does this help you stick to it, but it also can provide greater rewards on a subtle level. It's like, if you're digging a well, you have to dig in the same place sufficiently deep to find the water. If you just dig a foot here, a foot there, you'll never find the water. Same with yoga. You have to just keep going in the same place, until you find the depth. For me it's not necessarily the same time every day, but it's doing it every day that is the thing. When I miss a day it's like having to re-dig the well. Practice every day is like digging the same well, and I'm already starting to find signs of water.