Yoga today keeps the psychiatrist away...

Ah Yoga. You teach me so much.

I’m in the middle of my 30 day yoga challenge with my fabulous friend and yogi Meghan—which I will probably not blog much about until it’s over. (I’m keeping an old-fashioned real life paper journal on the experience instead.) Meghan’s friend (and my new friend- very exciting to make new friends when you live in a town as small as the one I do) Cat is also joining us in the challenge. Because the three of us have very different work schedules (Meghan teaches random yoga classes, I work the typical 8-5er, and Cat is a dolphin trainer at a remote location) so far the hardest part of this challenge is finding a time for the three of us to get together. That means this morning we had to do yoga at 5:45am.

Roll your eyes all you want—this is the best part: we did it on the beach facing East, watching the sun come up over the water. We were hoping to see the dolphins and sharks feed, but they were pretty quiet this morning.

Laying on the sand, under the perfectly clear blue sky, listening to the water lap at the shore interspersed with Meghan’s soft-spoke instructions, I was thinking of all the things yoga has taught me.

Patience: Sometimes you just have to learn how to breath. Something pisses me off I need to learn to back down, let the anger wash over me, and then recover. Same goes for sadness, frustration, and just becoming overwhelmed by unexpected situations that challenge my patience. Dirga Pranayama (three part yoga breath) has taught me how to breathe deeply and with purpose. Focusing on this breath everything slows down and I (maybe only momentarily) have found my patience.

Balance: Balance takes hard work. Finding balance in my life has been very trying: balance between work, my husband, friends, hobbies, and just myself. I am struggling to find the most rewarding balance of these things. Just like in Ardha Chandrasana (Balancing Half Moon) which I cannot find my balance. I’ve been working on it really hard… but I think it’s my mental imbalance (perhaps paired with weak abdominal muscles) that keeps me wobbling out of this just as I turn my head to the sky. I’m working hard on this posture this week…

Strength: Strength is in many ways a labor. The first time I tried Bakasana (Crow) I face planted into a pile of pillows (thank goodness they were there or I may have broken my nose!) But I keep working on it, and now I have the shoulder strength to hold myself up. When I feel weak at work, or at home I have to remind myself that I need to face my fears so that I can become stronger than them. (I am, consequentially, facing all my fears of inverted poses and making progress.)

Thank you for all your lessons, yoga. Namaste.