Svadhyaya & a Pact

I have a confession to make. I’m ridiculously uncoordinated. I like to think of myself as a graceful gazelle who floats through life and yoga classes and running. But the truth is, I’ve broken more phone screens and skinned more knees on the sidewalks of my neighborhood than I care to admit. At least that’s while I’m being active and actually moving. This weekend, I fell victim to laundry. Literally. I FELL while carrying sheets down to the washing machine. I was barefooted and my feet just came out from under me. I took about 7 steps on my left thigh and even though no one saw me, I still jumped up and pretended I was fine. I gave myself a quick pep talk. “I’m a healthy, fit, athletic woman in my mid-thirties. I should not fall down so much. Get up, get over it and wash those sheets, girl.”

But throughout yesterday, my leg got more and more sore and I have this giant bruise that is all kinds of colors. My WHOLE leg hurts. I’ve stretched, I’ve iced, I’ve rested. But it just hurts. I’d planned on trying out this new yoga class today and I was pretty excited about it. But I can’t even bend my leg, much less go to a power class. And that has pissed me off and kind of ruined my day.

I pulled out my journal this morning and decided to turn this time spent NOT in yoga into productive time spent working on myself. In yoga, this is referred to as Svadhyaya – the niyama of self-study and inner exploration and it is hella important. WHY do I consistently let one thing throw off my schedule for the entire day? I frequently let one other person’s attitude, one canceled meeting, one laundry injury, etc. ruin my whole day. So instead of letting it pass and moving on, I waste a whole day being hung up on something that I have absolutely no control over.

I am a healthy, fit, athletic woman in my mid-thirties who may be down for a couple days but will be able to bounce right back. I am SUPER busy and should be grateful for this extra time when I won’t be working out. Do you ever get super bummed when you can’t work out? Or even more generally speaking, don’t we all get super bummed when something completely beyond our control prevents us from doing something we love and want to be doing? Sometimes one little thing like that can ruin my day. Surely, I’m not alone. If I am, it must be an only child thing.

Here’s a picture of the extent of my yoga practice today. And check out that shiner on my leg! So let’s make a pact right here and now. The next time something completely beyond our control prohibits us from doing something we really want to do, (like when laundry messes up my workouts!) let’s promise each other not to let it ruin our whole day and instead, find some extra space and time to do something that’s truly good for us. If traffic makes us miss a meeting, let’s pull into the nearest coffee shop and get some extra work done (or stop by the closest store and go look at pretty things!) If somebody’s attitude negatively impacts us, let’s write them a note telling them what we REALLY think and then shred it. If we injure ourselves while doing household chores, let’s maybe practice some gentle yoga. Find time to meditate, write in a journal. Instead of throwing away that extra time, next time, let’s breathe in some gratitude and breathe out feeling sorry for ourselves. Let’s look at whatever has ruined our plans as some cherishable “found time” and use it for some self-love, self-care, and gratitude.

Namaste, my friends.

#yoga #journal #tribe #health