Day 236 – Today my mind craved movement, but my body craved stillness and groundedness, so I settled into a 10-minute meditation practice.  This is, in part, due to the fact that I moved about the early morning listening to a podcast interview of an expert neurologist on plant-based nutrition and activities that support brain health and I know I’ll be getting my movement in today.  Interestingly, the science says we can grow brain cells as adults AND exercise encourages this; however, since I tend to stress myself out with too much exercise and movement, I did a seated meditation on my yoga mat.  Like all things, I question myself, try not to fool myself into a 10-minute respite when my body would do better to move.  How strong the habits of my mind are that program me to crave movement above stillness with all I do in a day!

Today Rolf writes about this “bewildering array of practices and priorities” which yoga presents to us.  He reconciles this with the idea that yoga enriches, if we embrace it, the “nature of all of our relationships,” expecially when we apply the yamas and the niyamas to them.  Yoga calls us to pay attention.  Rolf reasons, writing:  “The aim of yogic practice is to free us from the endless distractions of kleshas–fear, pride, desire, and ignorance–and to teach us to bring a focused mind to bear on the nature of our relationships.”

As such, my relationship to my mind and my body has become more focused, of late, and I suppose because I have approached it with a hefty dose of fear when it no longer was doing what I desired it to do.  Sitting in stillness, residing and being okay with all that my body and brain and heart whisper to one another, allowing that communication to happen, while I gently breathe in and out, enjoying the silence and support on the floor of our home in a house filled with love was a perfect way to practice today.