My Yoga Begins With Striking A Pose - Saddle Pose

"There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart." 

When the world got quiet for this young lady what became glaringly clear to me was the dust that accumulated on my yoga mat. 

As time passed I felt an aching and emptiness inside of me because I missed my practice. My body had been begging me to open up and roll out my mat - correcting the aches and pains I'd been experiencing. It was calling me to engage in a practice that had once been sacred to me - a practice that I felt at one time I couldn't live without. I was stuck. It wasn't happening, and as a result my body was stuck, stiff, and sore. I felt like I'd gone so far away from my practice that the thought of me pulling out my mat and striking a pose felt untrue. I felt like I couldn't just strike a pose and it mean I'm practicing yoga again.  

Sometimes all you need is a little nudge.

In '09 when I decided to begin my yoga practice I researched and tried many different yoga styles. I've always been fascinated with the art and felt a connection to it that needed no explanation. I knew this practice would create wholeness and healing within me and wasn't just a faze I was going through. 

I practiced with some amazing yoga instructors until finally finding a yoga style that fit me. I fell in love with yin yoga. The deep stretching and opening and long deep, deep breathing fell in line with everything that I needed. It's like finding your mate and knowing somehow you two have always known each other. At the time what I didn't know was how much yin yoga and my sensual meditation practice would go hand in hand. 

My practice came to a halt about a year and a half ago. Since then, I'd been wanting to connect with my practice, but was holding back because I was stuck in the idea of it having to be done a certain way. I felt like I needed time to focus on the spiritual aspect of it instead of just doing it. (Time I felt I had very little of.) The idea of striking a pose and taking a picture felt superficial and less sacred to me. 

That's when I heard a little whisper from within that said, "There is no right or wrong way. There is just a way."

And then...
I struck a pose. That was all I needed. 

It was in that pose I eradicated my question of whether or not this is true for me and not just a picture. Of course it is. It's meaningful, sacred, spiritual, a way of going deeper and connecting. My practice is about the health of my body and connecting with it in ways that make me feel good. It's about opening to new directions, and loving me along the way. I'm okay with that. 

I struck a pose...and my whole body fell into it. It was willing to go as far as it needed, as far as it needed to go to experience healing. And I allowed. That's one the things I love about yoga - the allowing. 

Thanks to A Woman's Thirst challenge I dusted of my mat and struck a pose, the Saddle Pose, and it felt damn good. 

And then I realized that sharing my poses with you doesn't make it less, "spiritual". It just allows us to connect with each other in this way.

There is more to come. This is just the beginning of a new chapter for me with my practice. I'm excited to see what my body wants to create.

What have you been needing to dust off and just do? What are the reasons you're holding yourself back? Won't you let go and dive in with me? This is my nudge to you.