Day 1: Yoga Habits

onthemat • December 1, 2015

Do you tend to put your mat down in the same spot in the yoga studio? Do you arrive a little early just to make sure you get “your” spot? Are you upset when your spot is taken? Do you head for the back row or the edges of the room? What do our habits […]

Do you tend to put your mat down in the same spot in the yoga studio? Do you arrive a little early just to make sure you get “your” spot? Are you upset when your spot is taken? Do you head for the back row or the edges of the room? What do our habits say about us? Every day, in every class I attend, the back row fills up first, followed by the edges and lastly, when there’s no other choice, do mats land in the front row. This is a disadvantage to the latecomer in a crowded class, as she (or he) finds herself closer and closer to the front and center of the room. Hopefully, she’s not freaking out inside. I actually feel a little sorry for a teacher when she (or he) walks in the door and the students are as far away from the teaching spot as possible. Maybe you’re a front row person, unfazed by it all. Maybe you choose to be by a wall because you have balance issues. Maybe you don’t think about it at all, but I doubt it.

 

One of the challenges I’m making for myself for my 30-days of yoga is to purposefully plop myself in a new spot every day. I challenge you to do the same. When you’re deep in your flow, like you’re supposed to be, no one’s looking at you no matter where you are. And when you’re in downward dog, the front row’s looking at the back row, and when you’re in upward dog, the back row’s looking at the front row. The experience might be uncomfortable, but it may also be liberating. Yoga is meant to be practiced with a beginner’s mind, and what better way to feel it than from a new perspective.

On The Mat Yoga Blog

Heart~ Day #7 (Week #4)

By Linda Malcomb • May 3, 2020
“There is a light in the core of our being that calls us home—one that can only be seen with closed eyes; We can feel it as a radiance in the center of our chest. This light of loving awareness is always here, regardless of our conditioning. It does not matter how many dark paths we have traveled or how many wounds we have inflicted or sustained as we have unknowingly stumbled toward this inner radiance. It does not matter how long we have sleepwalked, seduced by our desires and fears. This call persists until it is answered, until we surrender to who we really are. When we do, we feel ourselves at home wherever we are. A hidden beauty reveals itself in our ordinary life. As the true nature of our Deep Hear is unveiled, we feel increasingly grateful for no reason—grateful to simply be.” —John J. Prendergast, PHD, The Deep Heart

SUN!~ Day #6 (Week #4)

By Linda Malcomb • May 2, 2020
Seems like it’s been rainy, windy, dreary for eons. Which may have helped us shelter inside a bit more. I remember reading years and years ago in a Seth book that weather can be influenced, and even created by mass human emotion. Why not? We are far more powerful than we currently acknowledge, and science is beginning to validate many phenomena that had seemed inconceivable before. Those seemingly endless days of “bad” weather seemed congruent with the emotional tone of covid her in New England. And now SUN! Glorious, warming, invigorating, hope-filled Sun! Today I will be outside basking and gardening and thanking. And I’m sure the whole neighborhood, and most of New England will go outside, stand with our faces to the sun and breathe a huge healing breath of joy. And maybe the collective energy of that will resonate out across the word as a promise of brighter days to come.
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