I’m sidelined from my asana practice until my wrist heals. It’s annoying, but it’s also a chance to pause and reflect.
I love my practice without any conditions. When I can’t get to my mat it doesn’t mean that I’m not doing yoga, it simply means that I’m not doing asana. Yoga is not just about handstands and working on fancy arm balances (though they are fun). My practice loves me back. It has no expectations, no judgements. Yoga accepts me as I am whether I am feeling strong or weak.
My yoga is more than what happens on my mat. Yoga is a way that I get through ups and downs.
Yoga is how I work through pain when I am hurt. I’m given a way to move more slowly and listen to what part of my being is calling out.
It’s a chance to say to my body, I hear you. I am listening. Things don’t always go the way I want, but things occur the way they do. Yoga is my way to acceptance of how things are, not how I wish them to be. In this moment, I am restricted in movement. Rather than fight or deny it, I’m being with that idea, because it is so. Acceptance opens up a path to healing. How can I not love this? Yoga has shown me that I must love all of the time, no matter the circumstances.
Most importantly though, yoga is how I breathe. Yoga is how I love.
Yoga is life.
Namaste y’all.
Don’t forget breathe. Keep head your above water, but don’t forget to breathe.
-Alexi Murdoch
