Bringing Yoga into Life
You wouldn’t think my garage door would have much to do with yoga…but it does. Used to be I’d leave my house and not think or be present in the moment. From time to time I’d come home and my garage door would be left open. It got me worrying. So then I’d leave the house and get a couple of blocks from home and I’d have to turn around and drive back down the alley and see if I indeed remembered to close the door.
I can come up with some more examples:
Did I lock the door?
Did I turn the oven off?
Did I remember to close the side gate so the dog doesn’t get out?
Did I ______
What’s yours?
After I started practicing and studying yoga I realized what a tremendous opportunity this all was to offer myself the gift of presence. Because if I was truly present in this one, precious moment I would KNOW if I closed the garage door. Right?
But it gets better!
About six weeks ago, I sprained my ankle horribly. The orthopedist was super dramatic and said that if I reinjured my ankle, the consequences would be “catastrophic.” Zoinks.
So when I got off the crutches and out of the boot – I was like a baby deer taking my first steps. Plus it’s winter, so add ice to each footfall.
Each step I took I would measure the ground, the velocity, the feeling of each step. Was it ok to put all of my weight on my injured ankle?
Oh hello yoga. It slowed me down to start noticing each step. To stay present in each step instead of just walking through life not noticing!
ONE MORE.
When I was going through yoga teacher training, we did a practice. It about drove me damn near nuts, but it has come back to me again and again and again.
We had to take a half hour to eat an orange.
All I had in my refrigerator was a clementine.
DO YOU KNOW HOW SMALL A CLEMENTINE IS?
I set my timer, closed my eyes and began by smelling. The smell of the clementine lit up my nose. Then I looked at each pore of the peel and the sweet little eye where the stem was. Then I set out to slowly peel and eat the clementine. For thirty minutes. It was wondrous.
Presence.
My hope is that you don’t have to injure yourself, drive around the block 3 times or eat a clementine for thirty minutes (though I highly recommend trying it.)
My hope is that you receive this gift and start looking around for your own opportunities to see, to sense, to feel, to smell, to receive the gifts of each moment.
Because each moment is a wondrous gift filled with it all.
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Peace, Sarah