Wow, last week, I went to the Friday restorative class at Bernal and was blown away. Wow! Who knew restorative yoga could feel so amazing. I felt like I had gone to a spa treatment, and it was a perfect way to end the week and enter into the weekend. What’s great about restorative yoga is that it actually restores you. it seems like it presses the reset button on your body, mind and heart. There are a lot of heart opening asanas and a constant reminder that the moment you need to rest or do something else, like child’s pose, you can. This is your time in this wonderful space. When I went to class, one person in class spent a lot of the time just laying down with an eye pillow. I imagines that resting this way was hard to do at home with all the distractions but here, at Bernal, she could let go. Maybe I was projecting because I have trouble sitting still at home but Bernal’s restorative class makes up for that in spades. And the feeling resonates for days to come.

So after a hard week, or even a not so hard week, take the time to restore, reboot, rejuvenate in the wonderful Bernal Yoga environment. Your mind and body will thank you.

Sometimes it can be really difficult to find acceptance for yourself and your body when you’re in a yoga class. For me, this happens when the class is laden with standing balancing poses. Maybe it’s because I wear heels, maybe it’s my core strength but when it comes to balancing on one leg, I generally fall over. Then a litany of voices comes in: ” you can do this” or “come on, just stand” or “you have been doing this for so long!”. But the voice that I think is needed above all else is one of acceptance. We are where we are in class, we can do our best and push ourselves and develop and grow but we also have to accept the process. And remember, it takes mistakes to discover what not to do. And the more aware you are of that, the better you will be the next time around. And acceptance doesn’t mean feel great about where you are, it means being able to accept that place and move on. Even, if as Jeff pointed out in his last response to my post, that place is a puddle of sweat!

The sun is out and I am headed to class and I will do my best to accept exactly where I am today in my asanas.

One of the brilliant things about yoga is the attention we are asked to pay to every move we make for nearly 90 minutes. Every tiny adjustment, every breath, every action is carefully observed. We are invited to be completely mindful of our bodies and it’s great practice for being mindful of our minds as well. When we’re mindful, we can observe the thoughts that come in and out and see how, just like our body feels different in every moment, so does our mind. then, when we feel something, we can remember that soon that feeling will pass and a new thought will come.

It’s an amazing gift that yoga offers and a wonderful daily practice. In previous posts, I have mentioned how yoga can be practiced off the mat and mindfulness is one of those ways…

When we stretch, we’re creating space. There’s an expansion that happens on the inside, our muscles become freer, our tissues expand, the space between our organs opens up, we can almost feel it, especially when we really are thinking about what’s happening in our body as we move our hips up, place our arms down, feel the openness in the back of our legs and in the top of our backs.

With this space in the tissues comes space in the mind. We seem to often forget this amazing connection our body has with our minds. When our body is contracted so is our minds. Turn your shoulders in and shield your heart and observe what happens. It’s almost immediate. That’s why yoga feels so good all over.

So when you feel yourself stretching, really going deep, remember that your mind is doing the same. The two are inextricable from each other. Ad with that expansiveness comes a bit more freedom, which I believe is what we’re all after.