Asana practice:

my asana practice is twice daily, an early morning session, before sunrise, gentle throughout, and it’s main purpose is to wake my body and give thanks for the coming day. It’s focused around sun salutation and a few key poses that will open my body’s energy channels, preparing for the day ahead.

my actual yoga practice begins with first moment of awakening, a short chant of Om, three times, vibrations reaching through the morning. It’s a prayer really, just one to show how grateful I am to be alive, waking up to another morning. This is followed by breathwork, mediation, and then my asana practice. These are separate events, yoga, but it’s worth making the distinction — yoga is the overall theme of life, it’s the art and practice of being alive, and everything fits into its practice. My asana sessions are an aspect of this overall theme, distinct, yet not the main point of yoga at all.

yoga is the practice of life.

afternoons are reserved for a longer asana session, devoted to cultivating light, energy, and a restful sense of awareness. There is motion, exertion, and then always a brief repose, my body working through it’s natural stress response of effort followed by relaxation. This is the hatha yoga of asanas, a valuable practice that guides my life.

late afternoon is my last meditation session and then a slow unwind towards evening. Whatever falls between these sessions is yoga too, a practice, navigating through life on the terms that each moment presents to me, not always arguing for my demands and preferences. That’s the wonderful thing about yoga, mistakes fit in seamlessly to the path, natural, and life shows that it’s self-correcting, always and immediately moving onward in a steady flow. My asana practice highlights this so clearly, how I so easily fall from any pose and yet still have the opportunity to simply try again.

there’s no need to be perfect.

yoga is simply practice.

it’s life.

~

Peace, Eric