Why do I practice?

This life is always something…
Life is full of ups and downs. Life is fun, sad, easy, frustrating, joyful, jarring, exciting, boring, fast, slow- life is everything and nothing all at once.
This life is always something…

Each morning I step on my mat…I come back to myself- away from the past, away from the future, away from the pain, away from the illusion; back into the here and now, back to reality…I take time, I create space, I observe, I take up the challenge, I let it go.

I show up… again and again, I show up…to myself, for myself.

Sometimes I show up with happiness, curiosity, lightness, warm heartedness and laughter- I used to think they were the ‘good days’ where this thing called yoga was really working.

Sometimes I show up with heaviness, sadness, frustration, pain and a heavy heart- now I know, often it is these once called ‘bad days’ where the magic is truly happening.

Whatever I show up with, I offer it up; with grace and integrity, with trust that transformation one way or another, perhaps least when or how I expected, will occur.

I let go of control, and with patience and persistence I trust in the process and give it permission to do its work on me. As I tread this well worn daily path I feel lighter with each passing moment, I discover something new about myself, I offer up that which no longer serves me, I embrace the lessons of stability, openness and adaptability and let them inspire my actions every minute off the mat. I let go of my pain, my numbness and begin to ‘feel’ my heart again. THIS is where my Yoga really starts.

I breathe and I trust, I breathe and I trust, and I breathe some more, expanding my awareness, creating a spaciousness within and around me, releasing and surrendering all that binds me, breathing myself closer to my true nature, breathing compassion, breathing balance.

This is my pause, this is my prayer, this is my offering…to myself, to the beings I have the great fortune of sharing this life with, to the beings I don’t yet know, to the planet…

What a great gift…this practice