How I Get Myself Back On The Mat (And The Computer)

So, the Sol Yoga blog has been a little bit quiet these days and I've been feeling guilty about it. I've come up with a list of excuses as to why its been a month since I've blogged. a)I started a new job which has been far more challenging, demanding and exciting than my old one; hence, less time for blogging at work b) this new job is almost entirely on the computer so the last thing I want to do when I get home is more typing c) my personal computer crashed and burned a few weeks ago and I simply couldn't seem to find the time drop it off for the the many kind friends who volunteered to try and fix it for me.

Like anything else, the longer you put blogging off the more daunting it becomes. Suddenly I felt like I couldn't just put any old post up there - it had to be something FABULOUS. So I kept putting it off waiting for some amazing inspiration to strike. Guess what - I'm still waiting.

It's interesting because my yoga practice has mirrored this procrastination streak. For the past few months I've told myself I'll get seriously back to yoga when I have more time, when it is more convenient, when it is nicer weather out, when I feel like I've given my boyfriend enough attention during my free time. But here it is two or three months later and my mat has seen very little attention.

It is hard to find a way to get back on track when you let a part of your routine fall by the way side. Here are a few things I do when I notice I have wandered very far from the path of consistency:

1. Get Excited

Things that we do day in and day out - including yoga - can get sometimes become dull and mundane if we don't put effort into spicing them up. In the times that I have wandered away from my yoga practice, I notice its often because my mind was not really present when I was on the mat. One way I've found to jump start myself is to do yoga in totally different way - trying new teachers, signing up for workshops, going on a retreat, doing some yoga outside or exploring a different aspect of one of the eight limbs can show us just how endless the yoga spectrum really is. This winter, I went to workshop in D.C. with Ana Forrest where she told us to "Do Yoga In a Way That Romances Your Soul". I love that motto. I believe its about turning ourselves on to life; its about being EXCITED, THRILLED and STIMULATED by this short time that we have on earth. When I look at some of the people that I admire most in the world, they all seem to have this 'romancing' notion floating about them. They are all normal people who do laundry, take out the trash and clean the bathroom - they just seem to be really in touch with what lights their soul on fire. Sometimes finding this spark can take a little exploration, but in my experience it is the stuff that keeps us coming back to our lives and the mat with renewed and powerful energy.

2. Throw Perfection Out the Window

One of my favorite bloggers, Penelope Trunk, talks a lot about how perfection is a major road block in the road to productivity. Its not that we all shouldn't aim to do our best, its just that if we wait until our ducks are all in a row, the stars are perfectly aligned and we are totally in the mood - not much is going to happen. Sometimes we need to move forward even when we are too busy and things don't feel exactly right. Its not exactly an enlightened revelation, but it is a simple idea that can sometimes be hard to implement. In a recent class, I helped a women who walked into class about 15-20 minutes late get organized. Like many, I have often wondered what is going through those people's heads who have the nerve to interrupt the zen of the start of a yoga class. But when I talked to this particular woman after the class she explained to me how she had wanted to come and take class at Sol Yoga for a while and this morning she had decided she was going to come and test it out. Traffic on the way home from work had held her up, but she decided she was going to come anyway because today was the day she was just going to just DO IT. Our quick conversation changed my entire perspective on her lateness. It wasn't rudeness - far from it - it was a brazen commitment to follow through on getting herself onto the mat! If she hadn't had the guts to ignore her imperfect entrance, who knows when she would have found the time or the energy to take that first step of just showing up. Lesson learned: Maybe if we were all brave enough to continue to move forward with our intentions even when things aren't falling completely into place, we would continually find new and exciting worlds opening up to us as well.

3. Start Where You Are

"We being where we are and how we are and whatever happens, happens" - T.K.V Desikachar

I hate to admit this, but there can be a lot of ego involved in returning to your yoga practice after you've been away for a while. After a few weeks off of the mat, my hamstrings always feel a little tighter, my core a little weaker and my hips a little less open. Sometimes I have thought "ok, I'll be in good shape to go back to the studio after a week or two of consistently practicing at home. I'll be back to the level I am 'supposed' to be". These thoughts, which are self-defeating, silly and TOTALLY out of line with the philosophy of yoga (but admittedly still run through my very unenlightened and egotistical human mind), can delay a return to anything inevitably. My boyfriend is a perfect example. He has a brown belt in karate and has done martial arts since he was five years old. Even in the height of my consistent yoga practice, his twenty-nine year old body is naturally ten times more flexible than mine will ever be. He loves karate and craves it as a physical and emotional outlet for all of the stresses of work and life; however, in the two and half years we've been dating he has never been to a class. He has told me time and time again how much he misses it, but that he can't go back until he has trained for few months and gotten himself back into shape. He feels like only once he has reached a certain fitness threshold can he then BEGIN to take karate classes. Granted I do not know much about the world of martial arts, but this kind of thinking has kept my flexi, bendy, stressed out boyfriend from getting something he really needs because he can't fathom just beginning where he is and pushing aside his perceived expectations.

For me, getting back into yoga and blogging involve moving forward despite my ego and realizing that I am imperfect enough to let things fall by the way side, but I am inspired enough by the mission of Sol Yoga to throw my flawed, rambling, unedited thoughts out there. On both the mat and the computer I am trying to begin where I am and make a commitment to practicing, sharing and learning as much as I can from this amazing community.