Accountability...and Yoga

I have to admit this, before I go any further: I am terrible at holding myself accountable, and following through with promises to myself. And sometimes, when I attempt to follow through, I seem to forget about what I was doing and it gets put on the back burner for eternity. But I don’t want that to continuously happen, especially on this special and important journey of mine. So let’s move on from that confession, and hope that it changes as I continue!

Yoga. I love it, I hate it, it inspires me and I wish I did more of it. I feel so much more grounded and at peace when I practice, but I’ll be honest...I don’t really “understand” it. I don’t know if I’m doing it “right” or if there is even a “right way” to do yoga. So after a little research of my own, here are a few things that I learned:

~We are not others, and our bodies are all different, therefore we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others. Everyone has their own reason that they are doing yoga, and more often than not our reasons are not the same.

~Our breathing is the most important part of yoga; if you find that your breath is restricted during poses then you should relax, back off a little, and reconnect with yourself and the movements.

~As Pattabhi Jois said, “Yoga is 1% theory and 99% practice”.

~Embrace being you, meaning I need to embrace who I am. That includes my body, what I am physically capable of doing; my mind, what I am mentally ready for; and my heart, what I can emotionally take upon myself.

~And the final thing that I learned, was that apparently “corpse pose” or Savasana is extremely important and (according to the internet) the hardest pose to do. Like what? Why is lying down on my back such a hard thing to do? …… well, it’s “where your physical body and nervous system get to relax, rejuvenate” and remember all the hard work your mind and body just accomplished. After thinking about it, and practicing a few times, I realized that it seriously sucks, but not in a bad way! The internet was just 100% right, it is the hardest pose.

Why?

Even though your body might be exhausted from the poses you just performed, your mind might still have the higher ground. This is a pose where you’re supposed to be fully conscious yet completely relaxed, but how can you relax when your mind starts wandering and thinking about those dirty dishes in the sink, or the dinner that needs to be started, or the homework/work that needs to get done by 11:59 pm….I mean, I’m a married college student who has a lot to do….

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO JUST FORGET EVERYTHING AND “RELAX”???

We can save my problems and all the things on my mind for another post, for now let’s just focus on how we can achieve (mainly how I can achieve) Savasana:

~Find a time during the day when you have the downtime you need to rejuvenate and reconnect with yourself; make sure those dishes are washing, the dinner is prepped or cooking for the day in a crock pot ;) and take a break from the homework you’ve been doing all day to just...relax, but do yoga

~Find a place where you can be uninterrupted, turn your phone off, avoid the television, etc….and do yoga

~Be aware of your body, check for tension and acknowledge it until you are able to eliminate it

And just remember that you’re doing your best, nothing has to be perfect, and there is no right way :)

Take a deep breath, and remember...let self care be the light in your life that you need. Also, thank you for reading my research essay I assigned to myself as homework ;)

Mell W. ❤