A Yoga Break?

I was on a break from my yoga asana practice and teaching for nearly a month and a half.

I was busy with packing up a house and moving to a new state. I was also taking driving lessons to refresh my skills (hadn't driven in 10yrs) . This meant early mornings on the road, social gatherings to say goodbyes & umpteen chores, errands and phone calls. I was quite caught up and my mind felt like a mess on many days.

During this time, I craved to practice & missed being able to teach despite knowing that I didn't have the time and energetic bandwidth to do it. On somedays I managed to squeeze in a few Suryanamaskars but, I barely did it for a total of 5 days.

For someone that's had a 5-6 day practice week for years & worked non-stop for a decade , my mind and body took a long time to adjust to this. A break from work meant a loss of income and a break from practice meant a stiff body and ungrounded mind. I have to admit that I had a lot of anxiety because of this.

I worried it would not be easy to bring myself back to the mat and my old teaching schedule once I settled down in my new home. This made me uncomfortable even with the idea of having to give myself the necessary time to settle down in my new home & find my bearings in a new place.

All I wanted was to do my asana practice & teach. I felt like I was missing out on learning something & helping others feel better. I also felt a little guilty that I was breaking my discipline. Little did I realize at the time, the tremendous growth that I was having while dealing with a big change in my life. Little did I realize how necessary this break was for me to do my inner work

But you see, Yoga is a lifestyle and a lot of it happens off the mat and outside the boundaries of an asana practice. When I got tired, I would sit down, straighten my back, relax my shoulders, unclench my jaw and take a deep breath. When I got anxious, I would pause, close my eyes, and focus on my breath while breathing deeply. I would tell myself that everything under the sun is not in my control but I can control how I respond to it. I was learning how not to allow my anxiety to get the better of me; by staying calm and steady when everything seemed to be spiraling around me. The Yamas & Niyamas were speaking to me, I just had to listen more closely.

So even if you are away from your mat for a while, breathe in deeply and understand that yoga is with you in every breath you take, wherever you are.

More on how I got back to my practice later.