Today we began our May Pop Up classes. Sadly, no llamas were involved ( see the earlier Blog!), but we did have some new friends from the UK, France and the USA join in!
I decided to make the theme for the week this little mnemonic
(what a very weird word that is!), which I made up a while ago. There are only 4 classes due to our Bank Holiday, so Y.O.G.A fitted in perfectly and we started with the 'Y'...
My first question was 'Why are you here?' I didn't ask this huge question at 7.30am expecting the answer to the history of the Universe and all things in it! In fact, I then gave the answer to everyone, 'Y is your time for You'. We drag ourselves out of bed and onto the mat for many different reasons; for physical and mental health, the comfort of a routine, the community we enjoy being a part of. What we jointly seek though is some time and space for ourselves. This sounds self centred ....and that is exactly what it is meant to be! Never feel guilty for making this choice. Whatever you use, whether Yoga or any other chosen pastime that makes you stop and focus on yourself, consciously or subconsciously, the effect is always positive in the long run, not just for You, but for those around you too. So today we focussed on ourselves by moving our bodies, controlling our Breath and thereby stilling our minds from all the 'chattering monkeys', and at the finish we all felt so much better and had our answer to that question. Here's a little bit of what we did....
No llamas, no dramas! Just some Cats and Cows in our Marjaryasana and Bitilasana variations, opening the spine, stretching the shoulders and hamstrings, rolling forwards and inwards, then upwards to face outwards. Nothing too complicated, nothing too strong. There was a big challenge though - to take our time and stop ourselves from rushing ahead to the next pose and to what was waiting for us after our practice. Not easy as a new week begins.
How many times have you heard someone say recently that Covid and Lockdown has given them time to slow down and enjoy the little things, only then to watch the world start to reopen and everyone forget the lesson? Yoga has been teaching that lesson for thousands of years and those that keep practicing at 7.30am after a long Bank Holiday weekend don't really need to ask themselves the question 'Why are you here?' The question is for the rest of you and also 'Why are you not here with us?'!
Namaste X