Yoga Life Lessons
- freedomforthetaking
- Mar 31, 2023
- 3 min read
Good morning!! This week I did my first-ever hour-long yoga session. Now mind you, I have been doing yoga every week consistently for three years. But never an hour-long class. I wasn’t sure if I would survive. It’s a long time to be stuck in one place, (well on a mat anyways). Yoga is always a good workout. That’s why I prefer running though because I get to move through the countryside out in freedom. I don’t like being trapped to a yoga mat for longer than 30 minutes.
Anyways, the reason I say all this is because I have been licking and chewing on something ever since then. At the beginning of the yoga, my intention for the class was “Stick with it and have a good attitude”. I didn’t allow myself to check the clock. I tried really hard to stay present and not think about my to-do list and how much longer this was gonna be;). With a lot of hard work and mental awareness, I survived AND kept a pretty good attitude! But the one thing I noticed was that my balance got worse the more tired I got. My legs started shaking and I would lose focus on staying centered and fall over. My first response was to be frustrated with myself, but then I remembered to smile, find my center, and try again.
I believe that this is also true in life. I know it’s true for me. When I get worn out and exhausted I have a really hard time finding a healthy balance. Sometimes I am so stressed that I don’t really even know how to get it all back in balance. This is a huge flag for me. It means I have to stop and get some rest. Sometimes that looks like 20-minute power naps; sometimes that looks like stepping away from the situation and doing something I love that I don’t deem necessarily productive; sometimes that means talking to my partners and letting them help me figure out what to let go of and what to hold on to. Regardless of the route I take, it always means that I need a break.
Sometimes I wish I could just power on and not have to rest. The never-ending list is always calling to me and I can easily get sucked into its endless vortex. But the truth is, I want to run my life. I don’t want life to run me. I don’t want to spend my life feeling spent. I want to spend it in a healthy balance of doing the things I need to and doing the things I love to do. And yes, those two things overlap a lot. And it’s good. I just have to keep it balanced.
It’s kinda funny. I have a hard time balancing in yoga, but I can ride a unicycle. Go figure. I guess we all have our strong and weak points. 🙂
Love yourself this week a little. When you feel exhausted it’s important for you to take a break. In the online yoga that I do, (it’s Yoga with Adrienne and I highly recommend ANY of her videos which are all free) the instructor builds in small moments to rest. It doesn’t take much, but it makes a world of difference.
Life can be quite demanding. You deserve to feel fulfilled and balanced.
I love you.
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