Live Your Yoga

Five days on vacation taught me a very important lesson. I need to not only practice yoga but live yoga.  

A break from my day to day routine was liberating. It gave me an excuse to be reflective, to see how I was feeling, to sleep in a little later and remove the pressure I put on myself to constantly achieve the tasks on my to do list. Finally, I was not forcing myself to be productive—what a crazy thing!

My husband and I visited farm stands, fall festivals, walked around the country side and viewed the most spectacular sights of nature. There were no plans. Only the memories we were making in that moment. 

This time away made me realize my struggle with attachment. Attachment in regards to not only my day to day but also attachment with my yoga practice. In my own practice recently, I have looked at yoga as something on my checklist and something that I have tried to control—who I’m taking the class with, where my mat is located, the style of yoga, etc. This applies even to how I practiced.  Through reflection, I realized that time and time again, my ego would kick-in and take me to peak poses that I was not ready for. Yoga was coming to a point where it was about achieving opposed to being. 

Yoga teaches us to let go of attachment by being reflective and still. It’s not about the poses, for it is only 1/8 of what yoga truly is. The majority of yoga is focused on mediation, breath and awareness. 

My vacation was my yoga. It was so powerful to feel connected to myself, to let go of attachment and feel every moment. It is a reminder of how I should live every day.