Why I “Practice” Yoga
I had a sports-loving male friend who used to tease me “What’s all this yoga practice for? When’s the game?” In those, my early days of “practicing” yoga, it would vex me. “He doesn’t get it,” I’d think. “Practice is just a word we use to say that we’re going to yoga. We’re not trying to get anywhere.”
The truth is, somewhere inside myself, I was holding out for a big game – pressuring myself to get to class every day, pushing myself to work hard in every session, silently comparing myself to my fellow yoga practitioners. Working towards that nebulous future moment when I would be really, really good at the asanas, perfectly sedate in my emotions, my ultimate enlightened yogic self. It got to the point where the pressure I put on myself was sucking the life out of my yoga practice.
Now, ten years later, I am finally “enlightened”.
Not really. But, in a sense, my yoga practice has matured to the point where I think I do get what it’s all about. The original yogis in the motherland of India practiced yoga postures as a way to prepare themselves to sit and meditate for long hours. All the stretching and moving the spine and joints was meant to tone the body so sitting would be less uncomfortable.
I am proud to say that I can also finally call myself a diligent meditator. I used to dabble, but the daily commitment just never stuck, until a year ago on November 1, 2007. It hasn’t been a breeze so I am patting myself on the back at this one year anniversary. But, for those of you who aren’t into regular meditation, I highly recommend yoga as it does really allow me to clear my mind, at least for a few precious, savored moments. I come to my mat, and I drop my brain, if you will. I shake off my day, and I connect back to me.
Like so many of us in the Western world, I live in my head most of the time. Hardly aware that I am even breathing… unless something challenges that breath. When I come to my mat, that moment in my day becomes a simple ritual of breathing in and out. Hanging upside down, I can finally drop my brain, let all those worrisome thoughts drip out, confident in the knowledge that the important stuff will stick around.
It may not be Buddhic enlightenment, but with all humility and gratitude, it’s the closest thing I’ve got in my clutter-filled Western life. Let’s call it peace.
Wishing you peace in tumultuous times,
Amy
06 Nov 2008
jennifer egbert
Amy,
this is a treat. thank you for sharing your experience.
xoxo
Jen
07 Nov 2008
Judith
very well said, and inspirational toward an effort to renew the “practice” on a more regular basis. it may be what is missing and what is needed to calm an overly active mind. thanks for the reminder.