The Gifts are Endless
Roots to Breath, Dona Anderson
I love my Yoga mat!
Many of the great benefits and opportunities of yoga are found through letting the yoga mat take us to different places.
Whether it is to simply focus and breathe, create stillness, be strong like a mountain, or fold to release, we go places and do things that are just for us to feel, enjoy, experience, and each time is unique.
Every time I reach for my yoga mat I think about what will happen in my practice that day. What do I think my body needs or should I just let the mat tell me ... it always wins!
When I finally began yoga in my very late forties, I soon learned more about how my body didn't work. I remember being tired and hoping/asking if the guided relaxations could be the whole class. Later on I started trying to find ways to relax myself at home and those days when I couldn't stand, sit or walk, I got out the couch cushions and blankets to build myself a nest. I didn't know it at the time but I was doing some restorative yoga poses.
I will always be an ongoing beginner, I go slowly and am open and happy with whatever comes through that day.
The following is a mini meditation about a Yoga Mat! It is timed for our return to fall activities after a summer break. I hope you connect to its sense of union which the word yoga comes from. Enjoy!
When the warm days of summer take us outside to other activities or on vacation, we sometimes take a break from our yoga mat. Instead of travelling to our yoga class or the gym, they stay rolled up leaning against the wall, in the closet, or buried somewhere in our vehicle. They’re put out of our minds for a few months.
The pleasing colors of green, pink, blue, purple, yellow, and red that were our close companions during the rest of the year are left unused, forgotten.
When we do get a glimpse of the lonely mat, we think, maybe later, or another day. It’s too hot, or I’m busy right now. The mat doesn't complain, it knows you are taking a break and you will return eager to begin again.
Where else can you immediately find a place to honor your body, a place to build and feel strength, awareness, and balance.
It is a place for your body to breathe and soften, a place for your mind to find stillness and peace, and a place for your heart to find courage and compassion.
This small mat gives us permission to open up to possibilities and choices.
It gives us a place where we invest in ourselves and create an awareness that we can take out into the world.
It is a place where the gifts are endless and lifelong.
When you’re ready – Welcome Back!
This post is about fall, and if you missed it here is an earlier post about Spring.
Check it out here
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