Thurs: 1hr yoga with Martine; Fri: 1hr yoga with Ruth; Sat: personal day off, 1.5 hr teach and 1 hr teach; Sun: 1 hr teach, 30 min meditate; Mon: 40 min skype yoga with sister, 1hr teach; Tues: 30 mins
My life could, at times, be a case study on stressful living. The past week I've been overextended, overworked, and have been teaching and participating in so many classes that today was the first "me" time I've really had in my yoga practice in a week. I love going to classes: learning new things and being guided toward further advances in my asana practice. However, when I'm part of a class, I don't have as much freedom to listen to what my body wants and needs.
After feeling stressed for the past week, I skipped a meeting and stayed home to do work today. I got more done than I have in several days. I felt good about what I had done and I also felt glad that I didn't need to teach any classes today. As I pondered how I would express myself yogically today, I found that I really just wanted to have fun and play. I wanted to try a few asanas I hadn't done in a while and explore where I was with some of my inversions.
I fully enjoyed all the yoga I've experienced over the past week--the classes I've taught, the classes I was in with Martine and Ruth, and especially the yoga I did with my sister via skype. But this time with me really released some of the stress over the past week.
I read an article in Yoga Journal later this evening about living life without worry and learning to ease anxiety. Practicing yoga and meditation are obviously part of this equation, as well as learning to dismiss external thoughts that enter my head while practicing those things. But what about doing that during the rest of my life? The article recommendation that I really liked was to recognize and dismiss those anxiety-producing thoughts as they enter my head with a mantra such as "oh, planning mind!" I don't know that I'll be able to do this in practice, but I *plan* to try.
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