Experiencing It
Today, after writing my trusty morning pages, I rolled out my mat and did this week's free class at YogaToday. This is not typical. My relationship with yoga is one of mostly avoidance on my part. I mean, why would I make time for something that makes me happy?Last week, a thought hit me - how much my days are truly full of normal yet "perfect day" activities - writing, conversations, exercise, walks with the dog, podcasts, husband, cooking, photo snapping and reading. I don't force myself to read, I just pick up a book and spend some time. Whenever I remember to snap a few photos, I feel lighter. Once I get going, exercise and cooking are both awesome, relaxing pursuits. And every morning I write 3-pages of long hand no matter what my mood, my sleep cycle, the weather or my issues. No questions.So today while I'm smack in the middle of this yoga class, sweat beading on my forehead, my legs and arms stretched in side-angle pose, I feel this tense thought, "When is this class going to start?""What?" another part of my mind demanded. "START?!" As if the sweat and shaky muscles weren't enough of an indication, the sun had moved up past the window and time had obviously lapsed.But what did this mean? How could I be half-way through a yoga class, connecting to my breathe and moving my body, and be that disconnected? Or more so, that outside of this string of present moments that my brain wasn't on-board with the experience my body was having.It was so odd. It was like I was expecting something, a more utopian version of what "doing yoga" should be / feel like. And it brought me back to last week's thought about my beautifully full days and how all of these things are practices that I've slowly incorporated into my life. I didn't used to write, take photos, blog, walk the dog, read and cook every day (sometimes I still don't, but I make sure to get a few in before work). And that yoga was another practice I could add in, something I do no matter my mood, because it's good for me and I'm always better for it after it's done.And how, by building in these practices of showing up, these daily rituals, I'm less inclined to be swayed by Resistance to avoid these good-for-my-soul actions. That's where I think my thought came from today during yoga - my brain (ego) was still trying to talk me out of doing yoga by complaining that the class was so boring or low-level that it felt like it hadn't even started yet. How silly. It comes up when I think about writing instead of moving my hand across the page or when I fantasize about baking instead of pulling the bags of flour and sugar out of the cabinet.It's really a matter of doing, of acknowledging the thoughts that try to deter us, thanking them for their care, and then continuing on with our practices anyways. Because the love I have for my life is not made up of the thoughts I had about doing or not doing something, but about the memories I have of actually experiencing it.