It’s been 6 months or more since I took out my mat. I’ve thought about it several times. Last week, I finally took it out. I started my favorite video and found it surprisingly easy to center and calm myself in the deep breathing. My video starts with 5 mintues of centering mind and body. The rest of the video kicked my butt and I had to modify most poses (I was expecting that). Then because I wanted to show myself I could I proceeded my 25 minute yoga video with a 30 minute dance video. I was sweaty. It felt awesome. The next day brought me lots of shaking off the rust pain. I did take out my mat but knew better than to try and do a video and did loving body stretches instead. The next day I got my mat out and did my video… modifications are my friend and will be for months to come. I was happy that even after some mental hiccups that morning I still came back to the mat.

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So this is where I have a habit… my body rebels. Timing has never been my friend. Having a teenage girl in the house means my monthly cycle can sometimes be way off. I thought I had 2 more weeks to form a routine before resting a week. Ha, nope. So I have been mostly immobile for the past few days. When my cycle is early or late it also tends to be more painful and knocks me down more than it already does. Thankfully I can take time and be nice to my body. Heat, weight and motrin. Sometimes also a husband who pushes a hand into my lower back to relieve some pain.

Today I’m starting to feel like I’m on the other side. I’m eyeing my mat in the corner and wanting to get back to it. Patience. I need to wait another day or 2 so I don’t hurt myself.

Today I’m Celebrating the Small Victories. I am eager to start practicing yoga again. I may have only had 2 (3ish) days of yoga but my mind is ready as soon as my body says it’s okay. I’ve learned that I need to listen to what my body is telling me. I know my journey is long and I will falter and that’s okay.

So here’s to listening to the beat of my own body.

Happy mid day cups