10 Day Yoga Journey Day 10: Mission Accomplished!

I feel very good about accomplishing my goal of ten quality class experiences with the right intentions in a fairly short period of time. The underlying reason I wanted to do them so close together was to have a critical mass of experience from which to feel and contrast with how I felt before.

Breath Connects Body and Mind

My mantras today were: “I am here” and “quiet the mind.” I continue to enjoy the freedom to make adjustments to all my poses, fine tuning postures and “settling into them” as Petra encourages. Doing so, I find my ownership in each and remember them physically, mentally and on deeper levels too. My ujii breath sounds help me arrive in each class to a quiet space of consciousness. Exhaling breath with a back of the throat wave sound is an act of peace. The breaths audible sound is another calming stimulation, awakening me to my practice, allowing me to shut the metaphorical door to daily thoughts that cross my mind. We have 60,000 thoughts per day! I figure I can manage with a few less, improve my awareness to the ones I do have and “do more with less.”

Respond More. React Less

My balances in tree and eagle poses were stable today. I react less when I fall out of poses seeing them as opportunities to experience getting back into them.  I can do some poses more easily than others. I enjoy the ones that feel good and accept the ones that create more challenge. I respond by allowing whatever it is to happen and be with it.  Physical discomfort has a role with my experience. If I react to what people say and do without observing and allowing, then I am subject to all outer distractions and will lose myself. I endeavor for good, loving, positive people and things around me and veer from things and people who do not bring my greatest good. Yoga is like life in so many ways! We have choice with ourselves, nothing else. Yet much of the time, I am upset by events beyond my control. Go figure.

My Lessons

1) Finding stillness within myself creates a calm, alertness in me that feels like my natural state. I feel more awake to my life and things around me. I am less prone to be upset by external events that drain me.

2) I have moved from a place of “thinking” to a place of “knowing” that I have all I need within me already. I can reduce the energy trying to control events and people and re-focus on doing each thing I choose with complete awareness and generous intention. There is unlimited energy for everyone to have all they desire. My success does not take away from your success. Adopting a competitive, adversarial approach is negative energy that leads to failure. I desire lasting happiness and prosperity. It is my natural state to have it.

3) Yoga is an outward action with profound inner connection. My body is the way I experience this life. Yoga strengthens my body but its real power is leading me to re-connect with my inner self, that little voice of reason I have vague awareness of throughout life. The physical exertions of yoga blend with this inner awakening. The inner and outer layers of me grow closer and as they do, expand in joyful feelings that makes me smile, safe and happy!

4) Poses have many forms. It is up to me to find my voice within each and make it my own. The power is in the “doing,” not the judgment of whether the pose is “good or not.”  Care must be made to avoid injury but the point of yoga is to accept things where they are. Rodney Yee is a teacher and yoga master. He said in a class I attended that breath is more important that pose. I must find comfort in each pose, allowing breath to roam through my entire body. If straining to create a deeper lunge prevents breath from flowing naturally and to all parts of my body, then I am to pull back a bit, until I feel my “sweet spot” and stay there. He gave me permission to make my practice my own! I can have fun with my body, thoughts and life experience that moment. By doing this, I honor my self and the life I have. It is a gift.

Like Petra says, yoga is a “practice.” Yoga is not “perfect.”

(www.innerstrength-yoga.com)