not so early yogi

early birds

he he he
o.k. maybe I gave that impression, so I apologise if I did.
I do not wake up at the crack of dawn to practice. I am a terrible morning person! It has always been so. I wake up at 7:30 and if not, get woken up at 7:45. It takes me some time to get out of bed- a bit like my dog... it takes a few stretches and some dialogue with my brain before I roll out of bed. I also like getting up when my husband has gone. He is a morning person and is very hyper in the morning. His quick movements in the morning disturbs me LOL. I am on my mat at around 8 and do a few sun salutations and stretch out my hips and back; they normally feel tight in the morning (actually, everything feels tight in the morning for me- like wood!) . I don't stay long- breakfast beckons. Practice for me really happens in the afternoon. Most days, at 3pm. If I have clients scheduled, then practice happens at 8 in the morning and I only get the one session in. 

I am often asked how long I practice. The thing is, I have stopped imposing time on my practice. Some days, I can go on for 2 hours or so and some days, barely make one. There used to be a time when my time on my mat was all about how much time I spend on it and what I achieve on it physically. I would set targets and will push at a pose every day until I get it or it gets me! Then inevitably, there came a time when I did not enjoy my practice anymore and did less and less of it. I have managed now to let go of that kind of gripping and reaching. Practice is much more about space now and can report that I look forward to be on my mat every day. If you want to take anything from this experience, I would say to you, 'enjoy your practice'. To sustain a regular self practice and more importantly, to be able to receive the beautiful gifts of the practice, you have to enjoy it. Surrender the reaching and gripping, trust the practice, and all will come eventually. 

Having said all that, I go on about morning practice because I love getting up at the crack of dawn to practice. When I am on holiday, I look forward to this. It feels great and the whole day that follows is just great. It is a wee bit challenging on a work day for me to do this. I get back at 9:30pm at the earliest and it would take me some time to wind down. It all sounds like an excuse really because this week, I have had to get to bed early and have been waking up at a glorious 05:30 to get some practice time in before heading out to the wonderful yogi's at 07:00. I miss my night time reading but I love it! It feels great! Even the dog has been delighted to see me this early (and I can tell you, he is no morning bird either!) There is always a way if there is a will...

So anyway....my dear yogin friends, no, I do not wake up at dawn to practice. Maybe I will keep at this now that it is also getting light quite early. I really recommend it ;-)

we love zzzzz's in the morning