Periods of Practice

So, I haven´t written in a long while. My practice has been vary scarce this spring. "Only" about two times a week. Other things have taken up time and interest in life:-) Good things. A steady five six times per week practice demands a lot of you. It´s hard to keep up years on end with all the comes into your life.

Still, I´ve been ok practicing less, enjoying other things I can do with the time. Enjoying having a different "period" in my life. I think it´s a natural phenomena; you need change! Being "stuck" in half primary for so many years, and having pain in my hip after every practice, in a way it´s been liberating practicing less, and practicing in the evenings! I think that has been good for me, because I am now feeling better in my hip. I´m thinking of how to practice when autumn comes. I think I might continue practicing ashtanga twice a week, maybe yinyoga once or twice a week (a lot easier to do at home...) and maybe, maybe going to the gym once a week! Maybe do some spinning or aerobics hehe:-)

Sometimes I miss the dedicated daily practice, especially the calm it gives and having a strong and fit body. But at the same time I am welcoming change. It is after all the only certainty in life! Maybe I will have a new period of dedicated practice later on? In the mean while, I welcome this new period in life, and await what it has in store for me:-)

I am greatful for what I have in life, and I recognise that I am not only creating my own life, I am also receiving it. As the buddhist saying goes; you must empty your cup to be able to fill it. For me, emptying my cup right now is not clinging to ideas of how it should be, how my practice should be, my own idea and others. Trying not to cling, emptying, receiving.

What Is Yoga?

I will soon be conducting a "yoga philosophy discussion class" together with my teacher Lisa. I´m really looking forward to it! We had one class earlier this autumn, and it was great to hear other peoples thoughts on the topics we took up. The topic for the next class will be "What Is Yoga?". With that question you can talk about a lot of the sutras! I made a mind map to try to sort my thoughts out, and to try to see how everything fits together. My plan is to try and do something similar with the Buddhist system. Since they are so closely related, and I am studying both, I would like to make a comparison between the two systems to see the correlations and the discrepancies. Coming up later on!

Remembering Why I Practice

I just got back from India. I spent two weeks there during the Christmas holidays doing yoga and just relaxing. I wanted the trip to be a holiday, and not a "hardcore" yoga trip. I have a tendency to do things in a hardcore way. I´ve been practicing yoga so intensely the last few years that I am now feeling quite full. It has led me to question why I practice. In some periods, the practice has nearly been a goal in itself(although I am concious enough to know better...:-)If you practice everyday, early in the morning, some things have to be sacrificed. Like sleeping in the morning(which I love), having breakfast(I take a coffee and piece of bread at my desk at work), no late nights( like seeing friends over a glas of wine or watching a good movie), restricted diet and so on. Nealy all my holidays the last 4-5 years have been yoga holidays. Sometimes I think: "gosh, why can´t I be normal?"

I met some interesting people in India who had been doing yoga for a long time, and had started questioning if all that dedication had been worth it. That just reinforced my questioning of why I do yoga. I´m thinking that yoga is only a tool to help reach a goal, it´s not the goal itself. And what is the goal? Well, stilling the mind according to the yoga sutras. Why still the mind? To be happier and more free. Yoga should help you achieve a better life, with better health, more happiness, a more balanced mind, emotional equanimity and freedom!

I remember a story one of my teachers told us about a yoga student who was so serious about his practice that guruji told him to go out and have some fun! I like that story. Because if you´re too serious, life is not fun anymore!

So, I begin this year with trying to incorporate ahimsa and santosha in my practice. And aparigraha, not grasping for the results. I want to rest in my practice, not push myselt to it. I want to remember that I practice because it makes me happier and gives me a better life than if I didn´t practice.

Yeah:-)