Hiking Yogini

Posts Tagged ‘Yoga practice’

Commitment is a large word, or perhaps, I should say a difficult word.  It’s a word that conjures up many different shades of meaning for many different people.  I’ve thought of myself as a commitment phobe for most of my adult life.  I suppose you could say I was soured on the word early on when my marriage — married right out of college at the tender age of 22 – failed spectacularly and painfully.  And without much conscious thought, I found myself scared to commit.  Didn’t like a job? I’d leave it.  A relationship … or first date(!) … not working? I’d leave it.  Not happy about where I was living? I’d move.  By the time I hit my mid-thirties, I was exhausted. Read the rest of this entry »

I went to one of my favorite yoga classes tonight (www.innerhappiness.com), feeling almost … desperate for some release.  Work was successfully doing what it does almost every day — making me feel overwhelmed and inadequate to the daily tasks, and my neck and shoulders were responding in turn. I thought a yoga class would be the balm I needed … And it was, it just gifted itself in an unexpected way. Read the rest of this entry »

You ever have one of those weeks where everything just seems hard, even if some of what’s occurring possesses some elements of good?  Well, that is what this past week has been like for me. Work felt a little too hard, dealing with my moldy car (the back door is leaking and letting in the rain) seemed like it just might break me (I’m allergic to mold), meeting and disappointing family expectations seemed like a tragic train wreck … etc, etc.  BUT, in the middle of this hand-to-forehead-oh-my-good-gods-everything-is-too-hard week, the love of my life showed me great love and took me to something he probably wouldn’t choose as a way to spend his evening — a night of kirtan with Krishna Das, Deva Premal and Miten.  Read the rest of this entry »

One of my own phrases came back to haunt me this past weekend, “Expect the unexpected” … Or rather, “Suspend expectation.”  (Mind you, I’m sure I’m not the first Yoga teacher to utter those words!) I’d do well if I took these words and embraced them on a regular basis myself … If this was a daily mantra to which I turned. I know as a yoga teacher I’ve said this to my students many a time in class, “Suspend your expectations of what you think your practice … this particular asana, should be, and simply allow it to be what it is.”  So much of our suffering, angst, worry, anxiety stems from a situation, person, or an interaction not meeting our expectations. And two things in my life — hiking and yoga — repeatedly, and continually, remind me of this bit of wisdom. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the greatest impediments to my daily practice seems to be an ingrained habit of staying up way too late.  Even an hour (or a half hour!) past bedtime effects my ability to get up and find enough will power to get out of bed, let alone go to the gym for a cardio work out or get on my mat for some Sun Salutations.  And there are too many evenings I’m up much longer than an hour past bedtime. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll be honest … I’m not entirely sure what’s behind my motivation to blog about my Yogic journey, why I want to share the rawness of it. Choosing to live “yogically” isn’t easy, although it’s somewhat of a simple decision.  Incorporating yogic values into one’s daily life seems, at face value, an honorable, basic and high-falutin’ endeavor.  However, at it’s core, I’m sometimes thinking it could have masochistic leanings…  Ok, so apparently I’m starting my blog at a particularly cynical moment… Read the rest of this entry »