Is Yoga Enough?

I've had a few people ask me recently about my practice and if it's enough...

"Do you only do yoga?"; "Do you also Swim/Bike/Run/etc?"  "What about Cardio training?"

Yes, I only do yoga...6 days a week (mostly).  At least that is my "workout" routine.  I swim/bike/run/etc whenever I want to or when I have time, but not as part of any kind of training or regimen, and when I do, I find I have plenty of strength an endurance to do what I want, keep up with the kids and family, and enjoy my time off the mat.  And that's really the point anyway.  Yoga to support my life, rather than the other way around.

As far as cardio training, the purpose is to train the heart muscle to pump blood more efficiently, improving circulation and getting more oxygen to the body.  Yoga does that.

The rhythmic movement and breath of the Ashtanga practice definitely gets my heart rate up, I break a sweat, and there are a few sequences of poses that leave me a bit winded, telling me I am challenging my body.  Plus, there are a few sequences (Sun B anyone?) that used to be a bit more challenging but are no longer, telling me I am getting stronger and building endurance.

Yoga does all the things for me what my old workouts used to give me and more.  I love the movement of the whole body together as one, and the feeling that every muscle is being used to its greatest potential (and discovering new ones occasionally!).  Yoga feels for me is how a dog must feel when allowed to run free outside on a beautiful, clear spring day...Ahhhh!!

But the real test is a day like today - a rarity in NC in August - sunny with a few puffy clouds, lower temps and humidty, and nothing on the calendar until later.  What a perfect day to head out on the bike trails and enjoy the breezes and the scenery (I ran into a family of deer on the path!) with plenty of energy and strength to go as far as I want.  Yes, Yoga is enough for me!

Yes, It is a Moon Day...

And Yes, I practiced today...shame on me.

I've been preaching a bit lately to anyone who will  listen that rest days are super important, and that is why they are built into the Ashtanga "prescription".  For me, it has been essential to take those prescribed days off - Saturdays, Moon Days, and Ladies Holidays - and to do it with no guilt or self-loathing.  That can take as much discipline as getting to the mat. 

For me, those rest days allow me to really practice to my best potential on practice days.  There is no whining on practice days, and no "maybe I shouldn't push too hard today since I haven't had a real day off in a while, so I'll just do this pose I don't like in a half-assed fashion."  There is just the practice, as it is, good or bad, hard or easy.

I plan to take tomorrow off in observance of the New Moon this afternoon...I promise.  :-)

Gardenia in my garden

Tolstoy the Yogi

I finished reading Anna Karenina this weekend (bought the book long ago - before Kindles - and finally got around to reading it this summer).  One of the characters goes through a spiritual crisis and (Spoiler Alert!) has a breakthrough, coming to understand that there is a divine power that connects us all, no matter the beliefs, rituals, and conventions we each have.  

After his "awakening", he is disappointed to find that when he returns to his family and friends, he is still as irritated with them as before, and still gets angry and impatient with how they think and talk and behave.  It's all good in the end, and he realizes that he still carries the peace within him that he has found, and it will not be sullied by his worldly connections and daily dealings.

Who knew Tolstoy was a yogi?!  Ok maybe some of you already did, and maybe you wouldn't necessarily call him a yogi, but I was struck by the parallels between this character's struggle, and mine as a yogi and a householder.  

Every morning I step on my mat and go inward, searching for inner peace and slogging through kleshas, and at the end of practice I feel elated (ok, maybe not after every practice, but that is the intention anyway).  And then I step off the mat and into my regular life of making lunches, carpool, schedules, etc, and it's sometimes quite jarring. 

But I also know that because of the time on my mat, I'm able to tackle that jarring reality with a little more ease, and, having compassion for myself through the deep introspection on my mat, I have more compassion for those around me.  And that is the peace that I carry with me each day.

“Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them." ~Leo Tolstoy

 

The Pond at Yogananda's Self Realization Center in Encinitas, CA