One of my very first yoga teachers, Beryl Bender Birch said something in her DVD 'Power Yoga' that I have always remembered- "don't strain, don't sleep." Sometimes when I am practicing and mind wanders I hear her voice in my head reminding me of this, put some energy in the pose, explore, but know your limits. The longer we practice and as our bodies open up is it easy to go into autopilot, when this happens our practice can get a little stagnant and maybe even (dare I say it?) boring. BUT that doesn't have to be the case. When we work with our 'edge'- that place where we feel the work without injuring ourselves, there is always something new to learn and the boredom lifts instantly. When we involve our entire selves in the practice, make ourselves present in the practice we can learn and gain so much.
This also brings to mind one of my favorite sanskrit words which is 'svadhyaya' meaning self study. Practicing your poses is a form of svadhyaya- how is your body feeling today? are your hamstrings tight from taking that run? and on a deeper level- is my breathing deep or shallow, fast or slow? and on an even deeper level- where is my mind today? is it on my practice or somewhere else? can I bring it back to my practice when it wanders? and if you want you could take it EVEN DEEPER- how connected am I to the world around me? to the people around me? am I following my path? is the right path? and the list goes on and on and becomes more and more personal and therefore different for everyone.
In this way we not only practice our yoga but we begin to live our yoga, on and off our mats and at all times.
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