January 19 = Comfy Day

I finally made it to a yoga class today- I'm pretty sure this is the first time of the new year- shameful.  I went straight from my class to find Zachary lifting weights and asked him, "Why don't I do yoga every day?"  It is so very good for me.  It gives me 60 - 75 minutes where I have no responsibility.  I love these teachers- every class starts with the setting of an intention.  Mine is almost always one of two things- "move with your breath" or "be easy on yourself."  Even if you're super flexible and super strong, yoga can still be really challenging because you are supposed to breathe the whole time.  That sounds obvious and easy but it's tempting to hold your breath during a difficult pose and it's easy to get distracted with thoughts of schedules and to do lists and forget to breathe.  So if I'm feeling distracted, my intention is to move with my breath.  The instructors are great in that they lead you but you are always invited to listen to your body.  So if they say to move on to the next pose but I'm not ready, I can take my time.  But on a day like today, when I haven't practiced- that's what yogis call doing yoga because you can always stretch further or breathe deeper- in a long time, my intention was to be easy on myself.  Not to get frustrated if I couldn't hold the pose as long as everyone else and to take child's pose if I needed to.  It's interesting that when I set my intention to be easy on myself, my body usually responds by letting me do exactly what the instructor asks.  I'm lucky that I've done a lot of yoga in the past and I'm pretty knowledgeable about modifications I can do so that each pose works for me but I didn't really have to do that today.  It was a really good class and I left feeling calmer and empowered.  So again- why don't I do this every day?!

Anyway, on an unrelated note- Malia has started pulling covers up and enjoying the comfort of a good blanket.  More power to you girl!