Day 240 – In the absence of any pressing matter, work, or family commitment, I often choose a 60-minute or 90-minute yoga practice followed by a lengthy session of reflection.  I work on yoga themes for classes, or a particular body part that needs nourishment and/or mobility, or something more esoteric like moving meditation with my intention set on lofty matters (i.e., self-love, compassion, groundedness, letting go, etc.).  This weekend, which was 3 days for me, found me yearning for more, but without time or space to recreate this beyond the Friday session.  I’d sit down to read and fall asleep, start to meditate and get interrupted, or I just didn’t have time or circumstance where I felt I could take the time through no fault but my own.  I wasn’t particularly sad or frustrated about it, like I have been in the past, and I just let it be.

The reading over the weekend was short and (again), like Friday’s reading, mostly about how sometimes you practice more–you do yoga [gasp] more than once a day.  In fact, all the readings are about the “when” of practice, and as far as I can see, Rolf, like me, likes routine, but also lives intuitively.  And there are just times in our lives where we have to do less, and likewise, there are times in our lives where we feel the need to do more.  I think there are times to eat intuitively, times to practice yoga intuitively, and times to exercise intuitively.

Mostly this reading got me thinking about how I listened to physical signs I needed yoga:  my shoulder hurts, my back is tight, my hips are stiff, I’m sore from crossfit, I need more mobility for dance, I have a headache, I want to sweat, etc.   With the keto eating and the experiment since March, I consciously decided the when of all sorts of things, including yoga, crossfit, dance, meals, sleep, etc.  I don’t know if it was through meditation that made me look at how my emotions–the off-kilter ones–play a part in my stress, or whether getting my hormones in balance through diet and less “exercise” and scheduled restrictions helped.  Maybe it was the combination of both.  In any case, I can almost feel anxiety, anger, worry, etc., developing and, at any given, point, I can step back and determine its root cause, which, ironically enough, seems to have little to do with a who or what but a “when.”

When I am hungry, I eat.

When I am tired, I sleep.

When I am angry, I move.

When I am worried, I ground.

When I am anxious, I meditate.

When I am sad, I walk outside.

When I am happy, I laugh.

When I am awake, I create.