Friday

This is my peace of mind picture.

Bad night for sleep. So I squeezed in just 30 minutes or so of yoga. Let's see, my back was stiff so the first thing I do was standing pelvic tilts. I got that from a pregnancy yoga dvd. I'm not pg right now, but they are a great way to warm up the spine and help digestion. They are basically standing versions of Cat and Cow. I'm a bit stressed, so I did some Pigeon poses. Haven't done them in a while. Some others I did were Big Toe pose, chaturangas, and three point pose. I got 3 point from another dvd, one from Yoga Zone. I did not pay more than $5 for these dvds at least 7 yrs ago. So none of this is new stuff or anything. But in between all of these I did basic flow.

Now like I mentioned, I am stressed, so I "went shopping" during a lot of these poses. Instead of chastising myself for this I decided just to observe. I didn't make an effort to "fix" it. I just watched. I find I understand myself more if I take time to observe before making any judgement calls or rushing to "fix" things.

What I observed was that my breathing was right on. I remembered to tuck my tail bone, keep my shoulders down and back... really the only thing was that I kept closing my eyes and just "leaving" my body for a few seconds here and there. That's okay. Maybe that's what my practice needed to be like this morning.

I guess what I'm saying is I try not to expect too much from myself. I know I do, but I TRY not to. So maybe I need some escape time from myself... okay. It'll pass. Then I'll come back and get back into whatever needs my getting into.

I love yoga. I love seeing the things my body can do. For example, my flexibility has increased again; my muscles can shake a lot and it doesn't affect my breathing. I would like to learn how to meditate. hmmmm. I wonder if I could get my brain to pause for long enough. Even when I'm sleeping it's going 90 miles an hour. Meditation could be good.

Thought for the day: Everyday is practice. Everyday is new. Perfection is too much to expect from anyone, including yourself. Expect your best instead.