After a long weekend with the family and a 3-day kickoff with work, I was really looking forward to getting back to some nice, yogic business on the mat. When suddenly Fate waved her magic wand and *KAZOOM* - stomach flu!
Great way to lose a couple of pounds (meant to be sarcastic), but the price you pay is that your energy level is completely and utterly depleted. The feeling of constant, light nausea was an all too unwelcome reminder of why I have decided that I NEVER want to be pregnant again.
And then I all of the sudden realize that I once again have gone an entire week without doing any matwork. Add to that the fact that I have my class today, and my mental debate is in full swing: Can I? Should I? Am I sick? Or am I tired? Maybe both? Should I tough it out? Will it make it worse? I hate to cancel! I hate to not be on top of things! BLAH - BLAH - BLAH - BLAH...
Time for some candor. Was I feeling out of it? Yeah, of course. Add to that not doing any exercise for a week as well, then it doesn't take to a genius to figure out that you're going to be feeling stiff, too. Was I sick? Honestly, no. I had slept fine. I had eaten. A headache doesn't really count, right? And feeling lazy isn't a valid excuse either. Was there anything I could try?
The answer to that being OF COURSE. One of the things I love about Virya yoga is that you can choose different levels of practice and design your own type of workout. Today, I decided to try to flow through the entire level one series. That meant keeping a comfortable tempo without staying too long in any one pose, sticking to the basics, and not doing anything too advanced.
When you've taken a break from yoga, be it intentional or unintentional, whether it was for a shorter or longer period of time, I firmly believe you need to give yourself a mental break when you get back to your mat. Don't set yourself for disappointment by expecting, or even worse, demanding the impossible. Today my practice was neither about seeing if I've improved this and that, nor was it meant to be a feeble attempt at making up for lost time.
I just went through the motions, made sure I stayed connected to my breath, concentrated on the flow, and when I was done, lying in Savasana (corspe pose), I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I had at least been able to do something today.
And I ended feeling a lot better afterwards.
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