I threw in the towel for my own yoga challenge. Gave it the big, ‘Peace Out’, the ‘ol He Ho. Yep, I quit my very own creation right in the middle of it. Not because I’m lazy or unreliable but because after the 3rd day, I didn’t think it was right. If I can’t stand behind my own work, I’m not going to lead others through it!
The Challenge was, for 5 Days, take two poses and transition between them 5 times counting 5 breath cycles each hold. From there I could play with the posture, really get to know the posture and how I should feel in it so that I could eventually not worry with the form and just be the asana.
The first day it was GREAT! I loved it. I journaled after and learned so much about my body and how to better cue my classes and clients. On the second day, it was good and learned some. On the third day, by the time I was done, I was mentally exhausted. When I went to write about what I had experienced and learned, I had a revelation. What I learned was that I didn’t like doing this 3 days in a row. It’s not the way I enjoy or practice Yoga.
This type of sequence would be great to do maybe once a week just to keep things in check but 5 days in a row? Oh hell naw! I was way too cerebral during the practice. Always thinking what I could change, what I was feeling, keeping note of even the slightest differences between my right and left sides. I was practicing in my head, not my heart. It’s draining.
B.K.S Iyengar says it best, “instead of thinking your way into an asana (yoga posture), feel your way into it. This is exactly what I teach my clients and my classes. I want you to become confident in your postures so you can enjoy really letting go and feel the posture with every cell of your body. Matter and non matter. Practicing Yoga from the head is a great start! That’s where most of us start, but then we realize that the body is just one part of a complete practice.
What if you were able to feel your way during your Yoga practice and then take that into your busy day. Get out of you head and move from the heart. Things will begin to manifest almost magically for you. I know this to be true because it happen to me, I experience it first hand.
So for those of you who following along in the challenge and you felt I left you high and dry, I did. But I did so with good intentions. My friend Lisette calls this case of over thinking and leading life always from the head, Walking Head Syndrome. That is what I was leading you into and that is the complete opposite of what I wish for you. Yes we need to find a balance of thinking from the head and heart but the 5 Day Challenge was teaching you to do what most of us already do way too much.
So next time you are practicing Yoga, or at home or at work, try to just feel your way from moment to moment. It’s a beautiful thing.
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