I went to my yoga class last night and my teacher, Sue, got us thinking and doing some things that inspired me to share.
This is my little yoga studio: it isn't fancy - just a small little room but the teachers are great and it has become like a little piece of home.
(This picture is kind crappy because I stole it from the Google Maps street view)
There are so many different reasons that I love yoga and to many they seem like all the reasons you should hate something. Yoga challenges me more than anything. It is insanely frustrating. You see these poses that look like they should be easy. So you show up in class, unroll your mat, and follow the teachers' lead, who effortlessly folds into a full forward bend or pops in and out of crow and you think how hard can it be. Then you try to forward fold and you can barely touch your fingers to the mat and your quads and hamstrings are screaming at you to stop.
It sucks. But it also makes me that more determined to do better. After all these years I still can't do a lot, but I've become so proud of what my body can do every single time I try. And I can now successfully touch my palms to the ground in forward fold.
Sue puts a lot of emphasis on being aware of your body. Of breathing. Of being still. This is the second thing that I love but also hate. It teaches me to be still. It teachers me to slow down. It teachers me to listen to what my body is telling me.
We start practice by breathing and clearing our minds. Lately I've been having a lot of trouble doing that. Last night Sue told us that instead of setting an intention for practice that we should set a mantra. Something that we can repeat to ourselves whenever a pose became to hard or our minds wandered.
My mantra was 'I am strong' - because I wanted to believe it. And it worked. I had some trouble with triangle because my stupid knees hate being locked straight and I have poor balance, but later on I got into side crow! This is crazy exciting for me. I was so excited that I promptly came home and continued practicing. Then I got our my phone and videoed myself practicing. Which if you know me…is weird for me. Granted I was only in it for a few seconds, but I was able to get off the ground and that is a huge step!
Here's a video:
I think my mantra can apply to all parts of my life. Not just the yoga parts. Which I can say is true for a lot of things lately. I find myself deep breathing at my desk sometimes and need to consciously stop.
So my parting moral of the story is to pick a mantra. Find one that works for you. Make it short so it is easy to remember and easy to repeat, and then when life is getting a bit rocky just repeat it over and over and over again until you feel stable. Of course in your head so not to let other think you are going crazy!
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