Tag: yoga nidra

Yoga

I went to a yoga class this morning for the first time in what feels like forever. Man, was it good to be back in a studio.

Yoga is often misunderstood as a mamby-pamby exercise routine characterized by weird and exotic names, pretzel twists and breathing work that is based on the philosophy of Eastern religions. It is marked by chanting and incense and all manner of distinctly un-athletic activity.

While parts of that are true, it could not be farther from the whole picture of what yoga is and offers practitioners. Of course, there are some pretzel twists if I’m honest. But they are sooo satisfying.

I reconnected this morning with muscles in my anatomy I had forgotten were there. Hamstring stretches. Spinal twists. Deep and focused belly breathing.

Speaking of flab, it flabbergasts me how easily once taut muscles can dissolve into lassitude.

I must compliment the yoga teacher for her gentle but rigorous teaching approach. This session was no walk in the park but neither was it boot camp for Navy SEALS. I had done a lot of yoga in my previous life.

I even completed a sixty day marathon once where I did one yoga class every day over two months. That took a little commitment. I got to explore a lot of different Yoga disciplines over that time period in the Rama Lotus Yoga studio: Vinyassa, Hatha, Iyengar, Vini, Ashtanga wore me out! Thankfully, there really is something for every age and fitness level.

I cheated once or twice (in my opinion) by taking part in a Yoga Nidra class. All we had to do for the entire class was lie prostrate on your back on the floor. I love Yoga Nidra.

I find it funny, though, how busy your body can be even when you are doing nothing. Every knot and pressure point and tensed up muscle makes its presence known when you’re simply lying on your back on the floor.

I came to love yoga for its health and energy benefits. Other than swimming, not many sports appeal to me. Competitive sports are for other brave souls.

Yoga kept me limber and flexible for a good long time. To me, that is one of yoga’s greatest gifts. Muscles need to move and yoga postures address all of them.

Don’t be put off by the weird posture names. Downward Dog. Sun Salutations. Tree Pose. I was put off by the names, at first, and I definitely have my favorite practices. Yoga is great in that it offers a diversity of choices so you can find and settle into the preferred practice you want to actively pursue.

I was once heavily into Bikram yoga. That is a special branch of “hot yoga” and is practiced in a very hot room. Its’ creator has since come into disrepute for the “touchy-feely” license he took with students.

But the foundations of Bikram yoga are solid. A steady progression through the twenty-six postures from start to finish that gently stretch every part of your body for a complete and deeply satisfying exercise routine.

I hope I started on a new path today. Day One of what I hope will be a revived weekly yoga practice. Baby steps however.

I don’t want to commit the familiar mistake I make of jumping into something with too much enthusiasm. That tends to burn me out and could threaten to put me off an otherwise engaging and beneficial activity pretty darn quick.

I was heartened to discover that by reengaging in a “first step” back to something I previously loved and was committed to, it may once again become a regular habit.

After today’s session, I am heartened and encouraged that a regular yoga practice may take root again in my life.

Time will tell, of course. But it was a decidedly promising start.

Unwell

My head is foggy. I feel feverish.

The only thing I can think of saying today is that I need to curl up in a ball and rest. I think that is a legitimate message to put out there.

This is the yoga nidra of blog writing. Those who know, know.

And a mark of self-care. So I am. Heading for my favorite place to curl up and drink tea and do nothing.

Isn’t that exactly the advice U gave me the other day?

This is me. Taking that advice.

After taking a rest, I will have more to say.

Consider this a punctuation post.

A pause in a music score.

And for the same reason.

To catch my breath.

What value would there be in a blog about healing if the author didn’t take her own advice occasionally?

Self-Care

This is my 81st post in a row. Nothing particularly special about that number, just noteworthy.

As a refresher for those who may have just recently joined me, I started this blog on March 14, 2023, with a view to documenting my book-writing journey. I planned and still plan to write a post every day for 365 days in total. Ostensibly until I have a manuscript in hand.

I guess I wondered what I would learn along the way. Well, here’s something I’ve picked up. Life intervenes. That was inevitable and I knew that starting out. I did wonder how I would handle life’s interventions when they did come up.

So far, I’ve managed to keep writing daily posts through my daughter’s visit with all of the delicious deviations and distractions, all the machinations and legal/financial back and forth and endless phone calls involved in buying a house, going through a stop-start immigration process, which is still stopping and starting. All that is on top of just daily living.

So today I felt myself vacillating. I was going to sign off on this post with two sentences and excuse myself. But then I realized that this stage is as much a learning stage as any other. I need to remind myself about self-care.

There have been minor but time-consuming medical procedures to contend with on top of all the aforementioned issues. I am exhausted. A temporary casualty of my “busy-ness” has been my faithfulness to my 3X weekly women’s writing group. I miss it and the consistency of carving out those two hours three days a week to get grounded and just write.

If a friend of mine was going through what I have been going through, what would I tell her? “Honey, it will be just fine.” “It is a marathon, not a sprint.” That is generally a good perspective to keep in mind whether chasing a degree, a house-building project, child-rearing, or writing a book.

The world will not fall apart if you don’t publish every single day for 365 days. No one will punish me. I am good enough at doing that myself.

I once did a 60-day yoga challenge. That meant showing up consistently for a one-hour yoga class every single day for two months. Boy, there were days I didn’t want to go. So I did workarounds. My favorite workaround was yoga nidra. I felt like. a naughty child because this yoga “practice” essentially means lying flat on your back and breathing deliberately and deeply for an hour. Heck, I could have done that in my sleep. In fact, a couple of times, I think I did.

The point is, I have created for myself something of a false idol with my goal of daily publishing something I’ve written. It is a worthy goal and I have no plan to shirk it. I just don’t feel the need to twist myself into knots whether or if I do or not. Heaven knows it might be a welcome relief for readers!

A technical glitch had me miss a day in my publishing continuity this week. I did not read about this grievous oversight on the front page of The New York Times. Oddly.

So I am off to bed. Clear conscience. Happy to have gathered this assembly of words together and to push them out into the world come what may. We, women, are notorious for putting all sorts of absurd and unrealistic expectations on ourselves.

More and more I prefer the route of self-care when life warrants as it often does. That goes for me and anyone else out there who occasionally struggles with the weight of life’s load.

Get yourself into a comfortable position. Put that extraneous clutter out of your head for a while. Breathe deeply. Relax. You can thank me later. You’re welcome.