Taking Your Own Advice

A woman I know had the courage to ask for advice from a yoga group I’m part of. She said she’s been feeling out of sorts recently, repeatedly falling sick and not taking time for her own practice.

I wrote back to her, knowing that the whole group would respond to such an appeal (we all like to share when we’ve figured something out that works for ourselves!)

I was quite proud of my answer to her, and I’m posting part of it here because I need to practice what I preach. So I’m sharing it with the world, but mostly because I need to do this myself:

“Anyone who says they never get off balance in their lives isn’t telling the truth. We all do. If you’re trying to find your way to balance, start very, very small, and be proud of every step you take. We always have a tendency to say what we’re doing isn’t enough. You get to decide what ‘enough’ is. In my opinion, the best thing is what fits into your life a majority of the time. It can be a couple of sun salutations and, like, five minutes of sitting meditation, or just a few minutes of savasana. It can be just sitting on a train or bus and and thinking about your breath. Just try to find the thing that fits into your routine. I try to do 10 minutes of sitting meditation every day. Sometimes it’s utterly useless, my brain won’t settle. I don’t care. I do it anyway. I might get a few seconds of actually being present, and I treasure that, just that tiny bit, and some days it’s better. I might get a full minute 🙄😇😅. My goal is that when my students are pushing all my buttons, that I have a place to step back to. When I start feeling ill (40 % of my students are passing me germs all the time), I recognize that I should try to get more rest, and try to fit that in. Just find your thing that works, that fits in your life, be proud every time you manage to do it and forgive yourself when it just doesn’t work. (Like instructions on shampoo bottles: lather, rinse, repeat). I’m sure you’ll get lots of advice and encouragement from the others, too, so see what resonates with you…“

I was pretty proud of that.

I had to the chance as well, yesterday, to just chill out. For various reasons, I was meeting up with my partner and some friends of his later in the day at a mountain hut. I got there early, jumped in the lake (cold! but wonderful, with little fish nibbling at my feet) and then just had time to relax.

I lay down on a cement wall and put my backpack under my head. I read some, then napped, then just watched the clouds. I don’t know how long it’s been that I’ve had time just to watch the clouds. It was great.