Be sure to take a rest day. I did. Fucking fantastic. Some Surya Namaskars to my neglected pranayama practice to trying to meditate. I’m still coming to terms with the knowledge that this is my practice. It’s for me. We’re not trying to follow blind and pay no attention to how it makes us feel. Asanas used to be prescribed. The series are more a general practice setup in a healthful order. If a specific need is needed there’s an asana for that. There’s a technique for that. These postures each have their own healing bullet points. Learning, which I have to do a lot more, the benefits of the postures gives a practitioner a personal pharmacy. Gives a teacher a way to prescribe asana for ailments.
Oh my belly. Maybe Paschimottanasana.
Oh my hip. Maybe Triang Mukhaikapada Paschimottanasana.
I can form my practice. Form it for what ails me. Form it to how cold I am. Form it to how strong I feel today. Form it to Sun Salutations and some breathing because I’m tired. My practice and I don’t want it to become a chore. I want it to be fun so I look forward to returning to it everyday. I want to be able to return to it. Of course there’s going to be good, normal, and bad days. Such is life. Practice doesn’t have to be a thing that I dread. I can look forward to it because after practice my perspective on the day changes. Not saying that it will stay that perspective but maybe the hint of knowing it can change will rewire me.
The series of postures that form 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and beyond are in a wonderful order. An order that opens the practitioner for the later postures and closes them from the ones before. They can fly right through them or hang out a little longer in the one they feel good in or need. They can pick from the encyclopedia of asanas or a knowledgable person can choose the ones they need for healing. In general the series are great but everyone’s different. Someone may need a specific treatment from an asana that appears in second and another one from 1st. That’s okay. That’s correct.
What a minute. I repeat myself just in a different way.
This asana practice heals the body and can be formed for a specific ailment. Healing, not restricting for no reason. Enjoy. Finish practice and feel good about it. This needs to be a way of life that can grow and change with us. Not a wall someone told us to stay behind. Not everyone will be able to do everything but they might be able or benefit from something. And trying new things is fun and encouraging.
Yoga doesn’t stop at asana. It’s mostly just the gateway drug. Ooooo, I want to be able to do that. I want some stress relief. The healthy body comes but then there’s being a good person. There’s chanting to charge the body with vibration. Mudra to bring connection. There’s pranayama to clear the body. There’s so much to study and to ponder. There is life to live.
I know very little but I do know that being alive and able to feel happiness makes me well. I know that happiness ebbs and flows like the tide but so do the sad, angry, fearful, and aggravating times. Yoga waits for us. Yoga can be the tool to work some shit out or bring it up.
Still I’m rambling. Simple things. Do yourself some good and probably it will help others. Just need to find your good. It’s probably different than mine. We’re not in this alone. There are a lot of people to help. From the person that teaches you yoga to a real doctor. Therapist to a friend. Books and practice. Art and play. I’m scared of life also. It’s not easy but it can be fun. There can be happiness sometimes.