I started practicing yoga in March 2006 as an "homework" from therapy. To be honest, I had been attracted to it for a while but never did it. It was not a bad homework. At the time, I was doing mostly stretches, breathing and meditation... and a few basic asanas. However, I was not very flexible and too busy in my head (ego) to be able to meditate. Although it actually made me sleep better if I did my stretch, breathing and attempted meditation before sleep, I didn't feel it was working very much...
I should have known better.
I had planted a seed...
The seed started growing in September 2007.
At the time, my infrequent yoga practice had brought me to another place in my life and I was ready for more. I started looking into the yamas and nayamas, the philosophy and history of yoga. I started going to yoga studios to attend actual classes. I read books on yoga - many books. Over the years I tried hatha, ashtanga, yin, kundalini. I studied and changed my life to respect a yogic lifestyle. It spoke to me in a language I understood. It gave me answers to my life long questions.
I am not saying I became the perfect yogi overnight or that I am now... not even sure there is such a thing. It is the work of a lifetime. Perhaps even more so in a materialistic ego based society like ours...
Letting go if our conditioning...
Letting of our misbelief...
It takes a while... it takes works... and there is a price to pay.
You may not "fit" in your old life. That's OK.
It's a small price compare to what you gain.
So, I showed up and did the work. I changed the way I lived, the way I ate, the way I worked. Slowly but surely I changed everything. As seen from the outside. However, as seen from the inside, it felt like going home. Every step was liberating. Every step brought me closer to my true nature.
I gain knowledge of myself.
I gain respect for myself.
I started to love myself.
I found internal peace.
Years later, I like to attend a Kundalini yoga class when I can but there are no such studios where I live now. Therefore, I developed my own home practice consisting of meditation, breathing and some basic asanas.
The finding that twelve asanas were created five thousands years ago to prepare the body for meditation changed my practice and made me question the complexity of today's practice... being a simple person, a simple practice that was complete was very appealing to me.
So here's what I do Monday to Friday upon rising:
Short meditation
Alternate nostrils breathing
Breath of fire
Stretches
Mountain
Tree (on each leg)
22 Sun Salutes (20 on Fridays)
Warrior dance (warrior 1, warrior 2, triangle, warrior 3, dancer -on each side)
Boat
Bridge
Savasana
Longer meditation
It totals up to 108 Sun Salutations per week. The sacred number. This number is sacred in so many ways. You can read more about it here . Essentially, 108 is a frequent number mathematically, astrologically and spiritually. There are:
-108 beads in a japa mala
-108 stairs to a Buddhist temple
-108 Hindu deities
-the distance between the Sun and the Earth is 108 Times the diameter of the Sun (same for the moon)
-there are 108 stitches on a baseball
...and I could go on and on...
This is what works for me.
This is what I can do any where I live.
This is what makes me feel at home, centered, at peace, healthy...this is what allows me to be me.
No excuses. No apologies needed.
This is all I need.
For now.
If there is one lesson I took from all that yoga studying and doing, it's that we change constantly... and we need to adapt. I also learned that simpler is better and all you need. The rest can be fun, challenging, but it doesn't add anything to the results.
Don't forget that "Yoga is not about tightening your ass but about getting your head out of it." (I can't remember who said that but I love it).
Therefore, perhaps we could revise what we are lead to believe about yoga here in America... did we manage to turn this millennium old philosophy/spiritual practice into a money making ego based practice???
Just something to meditate on...
Chloe 💜&✌
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