New Year... New Yoga

I love practicing yoga. Each practice I have - I try to treat it as though it is the first practice I have ever had. I close my eyes as much as possible and visualize my body in the asanas while I focus on my breath. Each Downward Facing Dog is my first. Each Warrior I or Warrior II is my first. Each Sun Salutation is my first. By doing this, I allow myself to come into each practice without any expectations. If I start my day feeling like I am ready to kick butt, then get to practice and feel my knee isn't quite right or my arms are tired, or I am just more out-of-it than I thought, I like that I had no expectations on myself and I can just surrender to my practice and let it be the way it is.

I think this is a very important way for us to approach not only our yoga practice, but also our meditation practice. I teach this to all my students of both that when we just surrender ourselves to whatever our practice is, without expectations, we will have a much calmer and more peaceful practice, which is why we are taking the time to do this in the first place.

Keep the momentum of the New Year, but honor your body and treat each practice as New!