Rekindling an old relationship

With yoga. I've had this itch and it's I'm missing my relationship with yoga. Although I don't want to dwell in the past, I remember being SOOOOO excited about practicing and going to class at the end of the day. The other night I came home from teaching a yoga class. It was about 10pm and I was still quite amped from the class, so I grabbed a book off the shelf, "Light on the Yoga: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali" by BKS Iyengar. I remember reading this book in teacher training as it was required. At the time, I looked at this book as, I HAVE to read this, so I'll just plow through it to get it done. HA! I was 26 years old and had been living in San Francisco for almost a year. I was definitely in a different state of mind altogether. I still wanted to make more friends, party, etc. So I wasn't quite into "that part" of yoga.

Don't get me wrong! I valued and still value what I learned in teacher training, and don't regret the experience one bit. But as I sat on the couch the other night and read the first sutra with translation and description, I said out loud, "OOooooohhhhhhh! That's what's going on." I totally laughed at myself, but felt a spark in myself. I love reading something for the second time because you always catch something different you didn't the first time. The spark was to practice more, EVEN IF it's for 15 minutes. I know I've blogged about this before, but the more I think about it and feel how great I'm going to feel, I know it's gonna happen.

I want to be easy on myself. If I think I can only do 15 minutes, then I'll start with that and see where it takes me. I won't say, "I can't do it if I only have 15 minutes." Screw that attitude! I'm going to do what I can and love it! I want to read a Yoga Sutra a day; practice a pose that I know is challenging for me; and be present for everything that unfolds.

I want to breathe, be in my body, and love my body. That's what yoga means to me. And, boy, do we have a lot of catching up to do on the mat.