Jenna’s 21 Day Yoga Challenge ended on Tuesday. I’ve spent a good amount of time since thinking about what it meant to me. What 21 days of straight yoga taught me.
I kept focusing on how not one day of my practice was the same. My intent, emotions, energy, and strength ebbed and flowed. I mixed hard days with extremely easy days. And yet, after the end of each practice I somehow felt more myself; stronger and whole. I realized that the emotions, the energy, the strength, the type of practice, the length of practice will always change but they will always even out. And that, the fact that everything evens out, is what I’ve realized this challenge has taught me.
I blogged one day about how emotional and raw and almost angry my practice was. I took it out on my mat (and my muscles!). I focused the pain.
There was one day that I really dreaded my practice. It was a day that was extremely long and emotionally draining. I ended up wallowing around on the mat for about ten minutes in child’s pose. And I cried; hard. You know how sometimes you feel like you’re keeping everything together and have it all under control UNTIL someone goes to hug you? That’s what it felt like. I stepped on the mat and just let go.
Most days, mind you, my yoga practice involved my usual giggly and goofy and motivated self. The self that stumbles in and out of poses. The self that swears at Rodney for yet another chatarunga. The one that focuses very hard on alignment and engagement in order to improve and move forward.
This challenge, and yoga in general, has taught me (and continues to) that life is not about absolutes. It is about dealing with right now, the present, in a way that makes you stronger and gives you direction. It is about finding comfort in just being yourself, as you are, with no pretense or fear. It taught me that I always have the time to do something for myself – even if that means crawling into child’s pose and crying.
It all evens out.
I am so thankful for the time I spent practicing yoga during the last 21 Days. I celebrated my completion of it by treating myself to a wonderful one-on-one vinyasa class on Wednesday. I think I’m hooked. :)
1 comments:
Oh my gosh, this was beautifully written! This part "This challenge, and yoga in general, has taught me (and continues to) that life is not about absolutes. It is about dealing with right now, the present, in a way that makes you stronger and gives you direction. It is about finding comfort in just being yourself, as you are, with no pretense or fear. It taught me that I always have the time to do something for myself – even if that means crawling into child’s pose and crying." completely spoke to me. I need to start doing yoga again. I've gone through some rotten stuff lately and I need to feel more myself and more focused on now. Thank you for putting this out there Emily! Your honesty is beautiful and appreciated!
Post a Comment