If you have been keeping up with my blog posts or facebook postings, you know that I sometimes struggle with keeping up a daily physical yoga practice. I practice yoga all day every day in many other aspects of my life … but those darn asanas always get me! Sticking to a daily asana routine can be challenging for even the most devoted yogis out there. Sometimes we get caught up in our other daily activities and don’t have time. Sometimes we do have time but want to use it for other things. Sometimes we get ourselves in a slump and just can’t get out of it and the idea of trying to get to a class or pull out mat out in front of the TV is just too overwhelming. So what’s a yogi to do?
I asked myself this very question last week after feeling very guilty over skipping yet another yoga class (see last weeks post: The Guilty Yogi) And then I had it, a wonderful idea to start me back on the road to a regular asana practice. I would practice one pose a day. Yep, that’s right. Just one pose every day. No trying to fit a yoga class into my schedule, no worrying about when I would fit in an hour practice at home, just one single pose, whenever and wherever I could do it.
That doesn’t sound too overwhelming, right?
So I let go of all my guilt, let go of the overwhelming need to schedule in as many classes as I could fit in my planner, and decided to start that very day with tree pose. I took my first tree pose of the day in my home office. Needing a break from some work, I stood up, shifted my weight into one foot, lifted the other and placed it on the inside of my thigh, folded my hands in prayer, and began to breath deeply as I focused all of my attention on finding my balance. After a moment I realized that I was staring out the window at a tree while I was in tree pose. How appropriate! After about 5 breaths I switched sides, and then returned to my work. Throughout the day I sprinkled in some tree poses where I could, never forcing myself or feeling like I had to. It was refreshing. And although I didn’t fit in as many tree poses that day as I originally thought I would, the ones I had were good ones and I was happy to have done it.
Over the next few days I stuck to the task at hand. Each day a different pose, wherever and whenever I felt like it. Half lotus pose came next, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that while quietly seated in half lotus on my living room couch I was able to meditate a little bit as well as do some alternate nostril breathing. Bonus! Downward facing dog came the next day, followed by Eagle pose (one of my favorites!) Each day I allowed myself to find the poses at any time they felt right, and to continue on with my daily activities when they didn’t. I was amazed at how much I found myself wanting to practice when I wasn’t forcing myself to do it!
After a few days of only one pose at a time I found myself craving a good asana class, and I headed off to the studio. It was nice to be back after a bit of a yoga vacation and I fell right back into the swing of things. Since then I have gone to several classes, not because I feel like I need to or have to, but because I want to. In between classes I pick one pose to practice each day and whether its one time or ten times I’m sure to get in a little asana practice every day now.
I know there will be times when I abandoned my asana practice again. There is no doubt that there will be schedule conflicts, busy days, rainy days when I don’t want to leave the house … but its nice to know that yoga is always there waiting for you. And its nice to know that your practice doesn’t have to consist of daily hour long classes without fail. After all, it’s a yoga practice, not a yoga perfect! A few poses every now and then is better than no poses at all! Give it a try and see what happens!
My next challenge will be choosing one pose to focus on daily for the entire week. I’m thinking of starting with headstands … I’ll keep you posted!
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