Ok, so I was not able to blog daily like I would have liked. My new goal is to write a couple times a week. Already I see the huge challenge of what I have set up for myself, but alas things are going just fine. I made four classes this week. I fell short today due the class I chose being full. I went to the studio and I could tell from the minute I walked in the door and the amount of shoes at the entrance was more than I had ever seen. I realized that this must be the prime class of the week. There was no room for my mat and even though the teacher said we would make room, I opted out. It was a hot yoga on top of the fact that it was packed. I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated and so I opted out. I came home and went on a run. I ran just four miles and felt happy for the dry weather to allow me the opportunity to run. I am going to try for five miles tomorrow. All of that said, I now have little flexibility to complete my goal of twenty classes by the end of the month.
Every morning before my 7am class, I have been reading a meditation. I actually like this ritual so much that I have been reading a few meditations. I love having things to ponder during yoga class. When I come to a difficult pose it helps me to remember what my intention is and that is what takes me from a place of rigidity to a place of softness. I have been thinking this spring time about cleansing and renewal. An out with the old and in with the new sort of thing. I then read a passage that has been on my mind for days and several yoga classes. It goes something like this, “What we need is not to dig a new well, but to dig even more deeply the well we are already in.” Ah ha, self cultivation. The tools we need are the energy, balance, insight, and the motivation to work the eight limb path of yoga. “The eight limb path is not linear; it is a dance of energies building upon themselves.” Quoted from Rolf Gates, Meditations from the Mat. Ok, I get it. It’s about doing the work. The payoff speaks for itself.
I thought I would be so tired during this process. So far I am happily surprised to have much more energy than usual. I also feel more full in breath and more free in my body. I am not feeling my normal aches and pains. I am feeling some new soreness in parts of my body I haven’t felt for a while. I am feeling great all together. I was dwelling in so much positive energy this week that I barely had time to check in with the circus of the news and the government. I was far more productive because of it too. I think that all poiticians need to practice yoga…. On that note, see you later for week two!
