Wear a Life Jacket and Commit ...

... The first non-song lyric title.

I am not going to lie. I was tired when I came to my mat this evening. Not just a little tired but really really tired. All I could think of was that I was cold and stiff from my run, my ankle was sore from almost bailing 5 minutes into my run, and it had been a long long day. Now don't get me wrong. I am beginning to love my runs. My lungs feel open, I get to spend time in conversation I otherwise wouldn't get to spend. My runs are becoming easier (mildly) and more fun (exponentially). The only downside is that by the time I got home to practice I was not feeling bendy or focused.

I did the quickie tonight. 27 minutes of delicious run stiffness reversing goodness. Before even getting to the practice I watched the intro to my Monday flow. The health warning included the following words, "Wear a life jacket and commit." That's funny because it really seems to sum up how I am feeling these days. Do what you can to protect yourself then jump in the deep end, into the deep blue, maybe from a balinese yacht. To me this really means, hey, it's -25 before the windchill so you better bundle up as much as possible before you go run! To me this means modify all the postures you want but make sure you hit that mat and go through the postures that are so good for you. It comes back to something another one of my favourite yoga teachers spoke to last night in class. He was talking about simply exhaling. So many of us, so much of the time, leave little pockets of air in our lungs when we claim to let go of it all. He asked us to commit. To let it all out and be without air just for a few moments. This struck me as incredibly significant and it speaks so much to the commitment we make when we have integrity in our lives and very importantly in our practices. Let it go and just for a few moments create a great space to be filled by all the possibilities. This is what happens when we truly commit.

On this note, meandering as it is, another wise man once spoke to this phenomenon of space. One day, on our mats in Ukee, Eoin Finn told our small group about the idea of everything  moving from high pressure to low pressure. He spoke of air, of people, of so many things in life. This what truly came up for me today in my run, in my practice and in my meditation. I am learning to create those areas of low pressure so all that good can flood in! I am putting on tat life jacket and committing!