I was away @ my 4 day yoga retreat again over the past weekend. I, along with everyone else was really looking forward to our Saturday/Sunday practices as they are quite long and quite challenging. When I say challenging, I mean it takes a lot to do yoga for that long, and we usually are pushing ourselves to the extremes. I love this because it really shows what I am cable of if I just TRY. Not to mention how amazing you feel for the rest of the day. Open, flexible, toned, enlightened...what more could you ask for?
Before we started, Grant wanted to meditate again for 15 minutes. I thought we only did it for 5 minutes before?! Was I going to make it through 15 now? Colin and Grant both suggested I try with my eyes open this time. It’s definitely a challenge to keep your eyes open as it’s easier for things to pop into the mind, and get carried away. I would need to focus more on my breathing and relax.
We started again in a comfortable seated position. Grant talked us through, and soon enough, the room was silent. I kept my eyes open, but in a weird way also fought the urge to close them. Maybe it was just the exhaustion of being up that early, and the Tims hadn’t kicked in yet. As I focused on my pink pen on my mat, I realized I was counting in my head. I was counting my breath as I inhaled and exhaled. 1, 2, 3, 4...1,2,3,4....until it happened on its own. My eyes became blurry, almost a dreamy state. A little trippy if you ask me. A few times I caught myself thinking about how trippy it felt...rather than focusing. Come back to the breath 1,2,3,4...1,2,3,4. I felt the breath in my stomach and felt my entire body become lighter. Is this was my aunt was talking about? I couldn’t even feel my hands on my thighs anymore. I turned my gaze inward. Grant chimed the bells and we were done. That was the quickest 15 minutes ever. I looked up and saw Grant smiling at me and giving me a thumbs up or thumbs down symbol. I smiled very big at him, and he knew!
From then on, my day and practice was great! I knew it had made a difference when Colin asked us to come into hand stand...in the middle of the room and not use the wall. Amanda looked at me and asked “are you ready?” She stood in front of me to make sure I was safe. On my second kick...I was UP! Amanda was even taken aback not to mention very proud...I was very excited and did it a second time without hesitation.
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