The hills and valleys of the practice.\u00a0 Do you know them?\u00a0 Can you sort of feel where you are?\u00a0 I remember when I was biking through the hills of Tuscany\u00a0some time ago.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a really cool trip and I there were these rides\u00a0that we would set out to do everyday.\u00a0\u00a0 We did not\u00a0know the routes and they\u00a0were different every day but you knew there would be hills to climb.\u00a0 I don’t want to get into that here but I was thinking about Ashtanga and the journey it takes, those hills and then being in the valley or just going straight and riding along\u00a0sort of enjoying the scenery.<\/p>\n
This Ashtanga journey,\u00a0or lets say\u00a0ride for fun,\u00a0is different for everyone and then again there is a lot that we all can relate to.\u00a0 Right now for me practice is exciting.\u00a0 I figured out how to breathe better (thank you netti pot) and I feel ready.\u00a0 I feel ready to sort of see where it goes without expectation nor fear.\u00a0 You see I have these spots in the practice that I would like to gloss over and those spots I come up every day and I am trying to figure out how to get the fearing out of it.\u00a0 So attention to my breath and the asana that I am on, in other words, staying in the present, seems to be working for me.\u00a0\u00a0Oh yes and being mindful of my drishi and\u00a0for me I have to M.Y.O.B\u00a0 This last thing is pretty helpful as well.\u00a0These days I’m feeling an ease with the practice and a certain ease with the spots in the practice, those asanas, that I thought I could do without.\u00a0 They are becoming my sweet spots in practice, they are becoming my friend.<\/p>\n
I know the valley very well too and the times when you are tired and you can’t breathe any better and you can’t do any better and you just want to feel better and more at ease with it, with practice, with life even.\u00a0 I’ve been frustrated, annoyed and angry with practice, with circumstances, with myself and others.\u00a0 It is not easy.\u00a0 It is not easy to stay with something and ride it out especially something that you could say I’ll do it tomorrow or maybe I just won’t even do this anymore and then the mind starts this justification process.\u00a0 The mind is pretty powerful and will convince you that what you are thinking is right!\u00a0 What’s is all for anyway?\u00a0I am\u00a0not going to go into the standard things we\u00a0tell ourselves, that’s been written before and is nothing new.\u00a0\u00a0 What I love about\u00a0this and\u00a0practice is that you can relate this to other things happening on your life journey.<\/p>\n
I see people in the valley and I see people at the top and all in between. Just like life we have to ride this out.\u00a0 For me the answer is in getting on the mat and feel where you are, experience where you are and accept where you are, the circumstances . . . everything.\u00a0 Acceptance is the key as without this you cannot move beyond\u00a0anything and that’s when we get stuck.\u00a0 So for now, know that for every uphill ride we make there is a downhill and go slowly on the downhill, pay attention and enjoy the ride<\/em> <\/strong>for:<\/p>\n “Chi va piano va sano e\u00a0va lontano”<\/strong> <\/em>. . . (that’s italian for “one who goes slowly, goes healthy and surely over a long time” – anyway that’s my translation for it)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The hills and valleys of the practice.\u00a0 Do you know them?\u00a0 Can you sort of feel where you are?\u00a0 I remember when I was biking through the hills of Tuscany\u00a0some time ago.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a really cool trip and I there were these rides\u00a0that we would set out to do everyday.\u00a0\u00a0 We did not\u00a0know the … Continue reading Hills and Valleys<\/span>