So, I started a yoga blog 4 days ago as a way to deepen my practice. I got the idea from doing my usual daily yoga research because…well honestly…I am obsessed. What’s funny is…I have not done any asanas, you know the physical yoga practice that everyone thinks of. I have been reading about yoga, trying to live yoga off the mat, but no mat practice. Of course I now have guilt running through my veins. This morning I was reading someone else’s yoga blog and read that she too has been off the mat for a few days. I still feel bad though, but no worries I have yoga with Jay tonight…my favorite. J The thought about not doing yoga for days takes me back to the idea of non-judgment and diets. I have also been bad on my “diet” for days. I use the word diet as in the food that I eat, not that I am “dieting”. I eat healthy, no fad diets. I feel my body paying for my mistakes, but instead of judging myself and feeling all bad I am going to recognize the mistakes, move on from them, and not repeat them. So I ate badly, but I won’t continue to eat badly, I will not gluttonize myself-not that I really ever have, but just see it for what it is, say hello, and move on about my business. It’s like the thoughts that arise when meditating; see the thought, but don’t focus on it, and, as Jay has taught, let pass by like clouds in the sky. This is my belief on a little key to happiness; recognize the bad, whatever it is- a bad day, an argument, bad food, mean person, anything that troubles you-and move on from it, don’t dwell on. I know, I know easier said than done, but practice makes perfect. The more you do this the easier it is. BUT in the same sense, the more you don’t practice it, the easier it is to dwell on the bad stuff and stay in the bad place. So essentially, you gotta fake it in order to make it. This is an expression that used to irritate me because I do not believe in faking anything, but it’s true to a point, at least for this point.
It is not unusual for me to be reading several books at once. I have books that I read for pleasure-currently that is the Shades of Grey books, but they are on hold for my “research/pleasure” books- these are listed here on my blog. This is because I also have a habit of always doing many things at one time. Each book serves a purpose, a very different purpose. What book I want to read depends on what I want to focus on at the time. At this moment it is “Happy Yoga” by Steve Ross. He says, “For others, the study and dedicated practice of yoga starts a chain reaction that often leads to the relinquishment of a heavy load of self-imposed miseries.” If I could pass on one thing that I have received from my yoga practice it would be this nail on the head-hitting statement. I cannot say enough that yoga is not just being physically flexible; it is a way of life, yoga is transforming. I have had more mental stretching or toning than the physical changes that I was originally aiming for. It took a lot at first; the plethora of things that I went through in the beginning made me want to give up (I still feel this way sometimes-especially looking in the mirror while practicing), but I can be quite stubborn (ask my mom) and I didn’t give up. It’s just like life; you cannot give up just because it is hard-life isn’t easy and you won’t get results. Just like the AA slogan, “Keep coming back, it works it you work it”…or however that goes. Such is life…and yoga!
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