“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao Tzu
Hello beautiful people!
This morning too ( like some of you out there) I woke up to the Swedish darkness. I guess I’ll have enough time until next summer to improve my early morning motivation to do my practice.
I opened my eyes and the only thing I wanted was to fall asleep again and stay under the blanket where it was warm and cozy. But the next second a thought crossed my mind. The other day I saw an interview with the Ashtanga yoga teacher, Jeff Lichty, in which he was taking about how to keep your motivation during the cold European winter. It is really challenging to be all full of energy when you wake up and not only that you don’t see the sun, but it’s dark too. And it will be like that the next following months. One thing Jeff was saying was: “Don’t hit the snooze button!” The moment you open your eyes in the morning, you need to get out of bed. If you stay longer, it will be worse and worse.
So I got out of bed, did my morning routine. Put some cold water on my face. Had some warm lemon water. Played some Vedic mantras to get my mind ready for the practice. I unfolded my mat. Ready for my morning yoga? Hmmm…I was almost ready to say: “Oh…it’s 7 am. I have enough time the whole day to schedule time for the practice. Will do it later! I’m not in my best shape right now”. Then the other little voice in my head said: “Just a few minutes of breathing exercises and a few Sun Salutations. Come on! Don’t be lazy! Let try and see how it goes.”
So I got on my mat. Practice outfit was my pajamas this morning. I was too lazy and cold to change myself 🙂
One little step at a time. I ended up doing 2 hours of practice and felt amazing afterwards 🙂
This morning I worked on paying more attention and cultivating more awareness about my shoulder girdle, some movement patterns I have and the muscles in the upper back especially during Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward facing dog) and the many Vinyasas we are doing in Ashtanga and Flow classes. The trickiest part for me is Chaturanga. So hard to unlearn the body to do certain wrong movements that we’ve done for so long!
Many times, our body compensates in one pose or another. It will find a way to make it easier for us, even though that’s not the best thing to do. When you go slowly through the postures and pay more attention to the most basics movements and asanas that after a while you take for granted, you will notice that you can reinvent your whole practice and find endless ways to work and improve your asanas.
Doing your home practice is super important, but having a teacher that shows you the way is equally important. A teacher can see things that you do not always see or are aware of. I’m super thankful to Tobias for leading me forward in my practice and showing what should my next focus in my practice be.
Yoga is an everyday practice! Practice, practice, practice! Don’t hit the snooze button! And smile! Life is beautiful!
© Unfold Your Mat 2016