My inspiration for this post came today during my yoga class. We were in the middle of some more intense movement poses and my instructor kept using the the word “control” in reference to our ability to maintain difficult poses. I found myself getting SO stuck on that word…what place did control have in my yoga practice!? Shouldn’t I be more relaxed and zen!?!
Wow, Em, take a step back and relax. As I’ve been on my road of recovery from living as a type-A person, I have gathered a list of taboos. The world control is probably the top of that list! It just reminds me of the neurotic (yes, psych term) need to have your hand on over little detail, nothing spared! Its how I felt about my eating and exercise last year, it’s how I used to feel about making plans with friends, it’s most certainly how I believed I would maintain the insanely fast-paced life style that I lived in my last two college years. Funny how one little word can bring up so much emotion and energy.
Thankfully I also came to a new understanding of the word during the class. I began to realize that my instructor was not talking about some neurotic need to control, but rather a discipline to hold on and persevere despite the discomfort of the movements. It is about being able to remain focused on the moment and the position while hundreds of muscles, big and small, are screaming “enough”! Suddenly control was not such a bad thing after all.
I knew that going to this yoga class today was a must; I am leaving for my trip on Saturday and this was my last for sure time to get in a yoga class before leaving. The class was my chance at carving out some time and space in a busy, scheduled day to connect my mind and body and honor the present moment. The class fulfilled that expectation and much more.
I feel that I am in such a better place than I was a few days ago regarding this trip. The bundle of nerves that I was on Tuesday was in no way helpful or positive. I am letting go and practicing my non-type-A lifestyle 🙂
I hope to post again tomorrow and maybe even get a post or two in from my trip. I am extremely excited because I recently purchased a new Panasonic Lumix point and shoot digital camera and am also taking along Eric’s Nikon D60 for some days when I am feeling a bit more creative and also to get some delicious shots of the food we will be making! I have really wanted this blog to include pictures but I have not had a good camera accessible lately. That will be changing soon and I am planning to make this blog a lot more visually interesting and personalized.
That is all for now, hope everyone has a good night!
Eat Well * Be Well * Live Well 