To me, the breath is really the 'marriage license' between mind and body. It is what allows my body to converse with my mind and vice versa. It's what allows me to settle one or the other. It is what allows me to discover aspects of my mind or my body I didn't know existed! or perhaps I had forgotten. It is what today allowed me to find comfort in discomfort and move beyond both my mind and my body.
I went to a hot yoga class today. For most of the 30 days that have gone by, I have done my own practice at home. Quite enjoying the space to intuitively create my own practice. But today, I thought I would venture out into the world and enjoy a class. Well, was I in for a lesson or what!
I went to a studio I don't often go, but would like to. With a teacher new to me. As we began the class I felt great resistance. Resistance to being guided in a different way than what I do. Resistance to doing the asana practice faster, to the sun shining in my face making me more uncomfortable in the hot room, to the different sequence, to posses I don't often do. I was having trouble keeping connected with my breath. All I could hear was my mind chatter with judgement and resistance, which was making the practice so frustrating and not at all what I had hoped and intended for today's practice. I was truly in total discomfort.
The class was an hour and half, thankfully. I would say about a third into the class I finally was able to give into my breath, to trust the process, to accommodate to a new sequence and a new teacher, to find comfort in the discomfort, to yield into the practice and to end it with a big smile. Letting go of the judge within, letting go of the chatter in the mind to be fully present in my body was my lesson and my gift today. It was challenging, but important to understand.
How often do we find ourselves stuck in both mind and/or body, unable to move beyond. That fine balance between both sides of the marriage, the one that yields and the one that resists. Reconnecting with my breath is allowing me to understand and be more at peace with the movement between the two.
"Learn how to exhale, the inhale will take care of itself." ~Carla Melucci Ardito
Morning: cup of hot water with Maca, lemon and raw honey.
Soon after: Collard, celery, parsley, broccoli and alfalfa sprouts, prickly pear, mango, green grapes, 5 oz of wheatgrass. 55 oz.
Lunch: 8 oz of coconut water.
While I made my juice: cup of hot water with Unpasteurized Miso.
Mid afternoon: carrot, fennel, orange, ginger, broccoli and alfalfa sprouts. 50 oz.
Late afternoon: coconut water, mint, lime. 18 oz.
No comments:
Post a Comment