Your Professional- Hero Stance

Do you have a yoga mat? Good, if you do; fine, if you don’t. Do you have a room, a space, green grass, a park? Good. The hardest part of a yoga practice is not having props or room to do the practice, it is what we tell ourselves.  We tell ourselves we need certain specific things in order to do the practice, when this is far from the truth.

Showing up daily to a yoga practice, or whatever practice may be for you, is one of the challenges that we all face. Everyone has days when they do not want to go there, but the professional verses the amateur shows up anyway.

Lisa Dietz, "Wheelchair Yoga" www.arts.state.mn.us

I do not mean amateur because you might not be able to do advanced poses; that is not always what a yoga practice looks like anyway. Pictures of people doing yoga are not a clear representation of what goes on before or after on that mat. A wheelchair bound yogi or a bedridden one’s practice is unique to their need.

If you have an injury, your practice will include all the modifications that your body needs. This is the true gate to your practice, and it is only found in showing up to find that which is yours. You can not catch the villain, if you do not show up to the battle prepared.  

Follow the hero without as a guide to fully see the hero within. The yoga teacher hero does not know the extent of your Achilles heel. You can say, “shoulder injury,” but they do not know your specifics. You must do your practice within the practice of someone else’s leading. 

Show up. Do your practice as it exists. Show the villain Resistance that you are not going to crumble because you do not have one thing or the other. You have You. That is really all that you need.

The Practice

It’s 5 am. You set your alarm clock to wake you then. You respond. Most days you hit the alarm, but before you went to sleep last night, you set your intention. You went to bed earlier so that you could be up at this time. You move slowly, but you move to a seated position and then to your feet.

You find your way to your space and set another intention to open the body or be grateful for what is… You begin to move. You move slowly. This practice does not look like the one your yoga teacher offered or the ones you may have entertained in the past. This one looks like what you need right now.

You are not super certain what poses to do, but you remember a couple that feel really good presently. You repeat these several times, linking your breath with movement until you come to stillness: Savasana or meditation.

You may have only been here 10 minutes. You may have been here 20, an hour. It does not matter. You remember your intention, and thank God that you have made it here, bowing your head to your hands as you begin to move again.

Each day’s practice will be different, you know. But for today, you have shown up, and done what you needed to do for yourself. That will make all the difference in today, and from your professional-show-up stance, the one that looks like you-hero, hands on hips and chest lifted, to Resistance you can say: “Not today, my friend. Not today!”

Join me for the last of three free yoga practices at SC Blue, April 20^th at 6:15pm. Everyone is welcome, but space is limited. To begin creating your own practice, the first thing to do is show up. You don’t have to show up here, but you can, and if you do, I will be happy to assist you through the practice of locating your most precious hero guide, yourself.