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May 11th, 2011

#Practice 365 Golden Yogi Winner: Carrie Griffiths

I’m really trying to learn to listen to my body. In light of my ongoing hip issues, I forced myself to take a break. Two weeks later, the rest of me became restless and so I thought, maybe I just need to make some changes. At the suggestion of one of my teachers, I decided to take a restorative class. I’ll admit I was hesitant; certain that it would be too easy and I would be bored. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t and I wasn’t. In fact, I found it to be rather blissful. The pain in my hip actually made a couple poses somewhat challenging and a bit uncomfortable, and I had to pull back even more. But once I was settled into a pose, I sort of just drifted away. It was as though I’d been transported to a far away land and everything around me disappeared. It was great. I could have stayed there forever. And these feelings stayed with me as I subtly shifted from pose to pose, a slight smile glued to my face.
What a nice balance this is for my practice. In my regular vinyasa practice, I will often resolve to breathe in the moment and relax a little, only to find myself pushing harder and getting lost in the details of a challenging pose. It’s really difficult for me to take it easy, even when I know I need to. I know that there is more to yoga than a vigorous practice. I never thought that discovering the other facets of it all would start with a new class. I’ve begun going to restorative regularly, and I’m happy to say it’s now an important part of my yoga practice.