(yeah, I can’t resist using cheesy post titles. Sorry.)
Breathing. Sometimes that’s about all you can do.
My shoulders and chest are aching from being maybe just a little overeager to rock out some arm balances in an ashtanga practice the other night. Part of this path is the pursuit of self-knowledge, so I’ll admit I went a little too far.
So there’s no vinyasa practice for me tonight. But I need grounding- a lot going on, a lot changing, and I know I’ll have much more energy to heal my muscles and confront life’s challenges if I can just pull some of it away from my very active mind.
So my practice, throughout the day, is to just breathe. To stack sitz bones, lower belly, ribs, back of the neck, top of the head. To soften my belly, gently remind my ribs to expand laterally before lifting, try to smooth the flutter between a deep inhale and an exhale.
It’s surprisingly subtle, complex, and yeah, kind of difficult. My breath doesn’t want to be smooth and long; it wants to be kind of choppy. I can’t force it. I can breathe with the intention of, thread by thread, releasing the ache in the front of my shoulders and between my scapulae. I can breathe, asking politely for the breath to descend into my lower belly to root myself deeper into my chair, literally, and figuratively into the earth that supports me. I can breathe, not trying to change anything.
Sometimes your yoga is about figuring out how your practice is going to show up. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be ready for an intense vinyasa practice. But today, I’m just breathing.