My practice has been nearly nonexistent for the last couple weeks. I did practice both on Friday and this morning, but blogging about the practice is something that I rarely feel like doing after, so I’m working on my discipline in that area.

Despite the fact that I didn’t have an asana practice, I was still practicing yoga by trying each day to live the yamas and niyamas. Whether or not I succeeded is another thing entirely. It always seems easier after I’ve had a physical practice. But we’re all works in progress, right?

That said, being off the mat allowed me to examine why I was skipping my yoga practices and compare the results with the other reasons I’ve stopped practicing in the past.

The main reason I haven’t been doing yoga the past few weeks starts with egocentrism. I’ve been focusing on myself a lot more than usual, sometimes to the exclusion of others. The more I think about me, the more I’m driven to make myself happy. The more I’m driven to do that, the more self-indulgent I become and the more I think sleeping in sounds better than getting up and being disciplined.

Of course it’s not all that simple, but close enough.

Another reason is fatigue, both mental and physical. This one is pretty self-explanatory, but I think it’s also tied in with having done yoga for six weeks. You see, six weeks is the upper limit for my attention span. I’ve done other things that have required a time investment over several months, and usually I end up stopping after week six or seven.

Sure enough, last week was week seven, and things went downhill. However, part of the promise I made to myself is  that I would stick with my practice for a year, no matter what. So no worries, I’m not giving up! In fact I’m trying to think of new ways to invigorate my practice. If anyone has any tips, I’ll be glad to hear them.

As the weather cools in New England and we head into Fall, I have to face another one of the major hurdles for my continued practice: coffee. See, there’s nothing closer to heaven for me than a hot latte on a crisp Autumn day. I’m not even joking. It’s a little chilly here this morning and I’m practically salivating just thinking about it.

The easy answer of course would be decaf, but please. Decaffeinated espresso (and coffee for that matter)  tastes like dirty water. One could argue that coffee itself tastes like dirty water. But at least it’s more full-bodied dirty water.

I seem to have gone off on a tangent… Anyway: yes, coffee is a major blockage to my yoga. The reason is that it always starts with a single cup, just to celebrate the season. Next thing I know, I’ve developed a habit of either making or buying a cup every day of the week. Then I need coffee to wake up on the weekend, then I’m up to two cups a day. And all through this, the caffeine is effing up my sleep schedule, and I sleep in to recover, and thus miss yoga.

Knowing is half the battle, so they say. Knowing that I have this weakness when it comes to coffee will hopefully help me avoid giving in to temptation. Because seriously, as much pleasure as a latte can give me, it’s just not worth trading yoga for that.

So I’m listening to myself. I don’t know what’s up with it, but I’m giving myself the space I need and trying not to force anything. I’m going to keep trying though. Just because my mind wasn’t with me this morning doesn’t mean it won’t be waiting for me tomorrow morning at the mat.

Did I mention that all I can think about all day long is doing yoga? What gives, brain?

I managed to drag my butt out of bed for yoga yesterday, but paid for it by sleeping way too much this morning.

Here’s hoping I can handle a regular practice next week!

I’ll most likely be taking a break from the blog in that time, but will resume on Tuesday!

Namaste.

I got an email for yoga teacher training in my inbox today. Now, I haven’t mentioned it, but one of the reasons that I’ve committed to a year of yoga is so that I can work towards a solid foundation of yoga, and eventually become an instructor.

Coincidentally, the training is at a facility near my office, and the guy who runs the studio I mentioned in the previous post is one of the trainers. It’s expensive, but I’ll cross my fingers that I can work toward it for next Autumn!

Namaste.

I did a small practice this morning, basically just sun salutations. I thought I was going to go through my entire series, but I just couldn’t. I’ve got to learn the difference between wanting to stay in bed because I’m lazy and wanting to stay in bed because I need it. Still, I feel better having done *some* yoga.

In other news, I found a studio near my office. The guy who runs it was schooled in Astanga yoga, but his classes are of his own creation. I’ve been looking for a studio that I felt in sync with for ages, and I think I may have actually found it. I’ll probably go to a class within the next few weeks, I’ll keep you posted.

Namaste.

I did get to do yoga yesterday, and it felt great to be back on the mat (as it always does). Loud neighbors partying well into the morning and severe allergies that wouldn’t allow me to breathe seemed like they were going to combine to prevent me from sleeping last night, but in the end I was able to get up and practice this morning after all.

So there you have it: a quick recap of why I’ve been absent. I’ll try to do better this week .

Namaste.

Anyway, I titled this post because throughout my practice this morning I had “Elephant Love Medley” from Moulin Rouge stuck in my head. No reason why. I think it’s been at least a year or two since I saw the movie, and longer since I heard the song on its own. To say the least, it was distracting.

After talking about bandhas in yesterday’s post, I thought I’d focus on them in this morning’s practice. It went okay, except that it seems that when I focus on bandhas, I lose focus on my breathing. Because of this, I found myself struggling a bit a couple times. For the next couple days, I think I’ll focus exclusively on breath, which for me also ties in with posture. I’ll let you know how it works out.

I managed to cut 15 minutes out by skipping poses at the beginning of my sequence. It wasn’t a perfect solution—especially because many of the poses at the beginning prepare my body for the asanas later in my practice—but it worked. In fact, it worked so well that I finished five minutes before I normally do.

I realized today that I haven’t been focusing on my bandhas (energy seals). When I started this experiment a little over three weeks ago, I allowed myself to ignore the bandhas in favor of alignment and breathing. It was enough of a struggle to focus on those two things without throwing something else into the mix that also required my concentration.

However, I find that I’m starting to add them to my practice in a rather organic way. While I’m far from a master at every pose, my body has learned where it needs to go enough so that I don’t have to direct it so much with my mind. Instead, I get to focus on other, minor corrections as well as engage my bandhas. When I think of it, at least.

It’s fascinating to me to observe my practice going through these changes day after day. It seems like there’s always something new that I’m discovering about myself. I hope my small readership is enjoying it, too!

It’s been a rough week for yoga. Missed two days last week, and nearly gave in to skipping my practice this morning. I woke up with my sinuses completely blocked by goodness-knows-what allergen, and had a couple errands to run first thing. However, I didn’t want to miss my morning practice on the first day of the week, and I really missed the peace and contentment I’m starting to derive from my practice.

All this is to say that I managed to follow my same morning practice, but it was around 10 A.M. instead of 6:30 A.M., so I was a lot more alert. Also, having used my muscles somewhat already today, I was more limber and warmed up.

These seemingly minor changes added up to make my practice feel brand new and invigorating. Although I was more awake and there were way more stimuli buzzing in my head, I was able to focus much better. Also, I found that I felt more playful and cheerful as my practice went on. I even made time during some of my poses for kitty kisses, since one of our cats is *seriously* into humans, and every time there’s a face near him he HAS to come investigate.

I’ve been throwing myself into my practice with some serious intention, which is fantastic. However, sometimes it’s really easy to lose sight of the lighter side of life. Yoga should be fun. It should be light and playful.

Every time I come to this place where I realize that I’m getting bogged down by the solemnity and intensity of whatever I’m doing, I’m reminded of a TED talk by Paula Scher, a graphic designer based in NYC. Her talk dealt with “serious intention” vs. “solemn intention,” and concluded that when we’re serious about something, we have fun with it. It’s only when we start getting too solemn that things get dry and boring.

So even though this morning could have been a bust for yoga, I brought myself back to the mat and taught myself the lesson that I keep forgetting: even when we’re doing something serious, it’s okay to have fun.

Namaste.