I Almost Forgot...

What it felt like to practice strong for more than one day at a time!  You know how it is.  The holidays roll around and with the extra social activities, holiday prep and travel, yoga practice gets squeezed in, and many times cut short.  Sometimes left off the list completely.  Then after the holidays, there are the post-holiday blues...aches, stiffness left over from stress and indulging...practice is still missing something - Tapas.  I tried an oil bath for the first time (I'll post another time about that...still experimenting), hoping that would fix me right up and get me going again. 

Ultimately, I knew the answer...had known all along.  Practice.  Get back to the mat.  If I'm sore, practice helps.  If I'm tired, practice helps.  Doesn't matter if it's "perfect" (whatever that means).  But getting back to my mat with enthusiasm, curiosity and surrender.  It helped to go to a couple of  classes with my favorite teachers.  A teacher watching and a roomful of fellow yogis always helps to fire up the tapas. 

And then coming home to my studio and making a point of setting aside time, space and attention to my practice...getting an earlier start, allowing the kids to get their own breakfast and getting out the door on their own (they are totally old enough!), and accepting help from my awesome hubby to make sure I get the time I need to take care of myself - feed my fire.

The last few days practice have been good - pushing a bit instead of backing off with the excuse of saving my energy for...what?  I'm really excited to be going to Richmond to attend a workshop with Eddie Stern.  Signed up for his Led Intermediate classes - hope I don't regret it.  But I know it is what I need.  Self paced practice is good, but sometimes we need someone to help us clean up the clutter and bad habits we develop when no one is watching...extra breaths, fixing our mat, retying our hair, etc before tackling that next pose...you know what I mean.

Namaste