Lesson #1 – “Yoga Is 99% Practice And 1% Theory”

Even though yoga includes much more than asana, I can’t really take pride in being a yogi without practising at all. Teaching Pilates while still studying has proven to be quite demanding and time-consuming. However, it’s by no means an excuse for procrastinating. Obviously, I can’t aspire to mantain a daily practice because my body wouldn’t cope with it all. However, what prevents me from enjoying a good practice at least once a week? The answer is NOTHING.

As I said in my previous post, I had begun to feel guilty about the lack of practice of late. Moreover, I felt disappointed because I couldn’t really understand why I had become such a lazy person. Deep down I knew I was much more focused and hard-working when I did yoga but I still managed to find a thousand reasons to keep from doing it.

Then I read a comment that opened my eyes. There are two ways of avoiding feeling guilty: getting over it or facing it. Will getting over it make my happy? I don’t think so. So, what’s left?

Which brings us to today. I got on the mat and I did it without expectations. I just told myself “go with the flow”. Who cares if it’s not brilliant. Who cares if I can’t practise again tomorrow. It’ll still be a reason to be happy and satisfied.

I had forgotten how demanding Ashtanga is. Pilates has given me lots of core strength, which comes handy in the leg balances. And bending both forwards and backwards wasn’t hard at all, either. Twisting was another thing, as there’s not much emphasis on that in Pilates exercises. Still, I was amazed that I could manage to go as far as Navasana skipping just a couple of poses (Janu Sirsasana B & C and Marichyasana B & D). I couldn’t do full Navasana, either, but that’s because I harmed my coccyx bone last week when I not-very-gracefully fell on my butt on my way home from work.

You can’t imagine how happy I feel right now. In the next post: Lesson #2: “Practice and all is coming”.

Winds Of Change

For the past few days, I’ve been feeling terribly guilty about the lack of yoga. Not only do I miss the serenity and concentration it gave me but I also feel angry with myself. Angry for becoming such a procrastinating person, angry for wasting my time so much, angry for giving up, angry for turning back to step 1. I’ve learned one thing along the way: the worst person you can let down is yourself.

I had an interesting and unexpected conversation with one of my Pilates students (customers?) about how we both miss yoga and how great it would be if they offered more yoga classes in the centre I’m working at. She actually encouraged me to give them myself because, in her opinion, that will make me realise how valuable yoga is and how crucial it is to mantain a regular practice. I thanked her for the support but couldn’t but deny the possibility because, after all, I haven’t had proper training (any training, for that matter) and don’t feel ready for such a challenge, either.

I must admit I’d love the idea of giving yoga classes. However, I’ve got lots of things in mind right now and, honestly, something’s gotta give. There’s the degree, there’s the Pilates, there’s The Girlfriend and now the dog (and that’s not all). I’ve got this feeling that I’m in some sort of turning point, as if I’m closing a cycle. Whatever that means, I need to get rid of all the meaningless things that take time and bring nothing good. Nevertheless, I’ve spent some time fooling around some websites, checking yoga courses. Although I can’t afford any of them right now, if things go fine during the next 6 months, I think I’ll be able to take one.

We’ll see.