Yoga

Tonight's blog is about yesterday's awareness exercise.  I just read the coaching instructions today so I can only tell you about one experience I had being aware of just my body, bringing all my thoughts into one.  Every Tuesday night, I attend a hot yoga class. It is very demanding on the body and the heat can be unbearable.  The most important thing to do in this class, and in every yoga class, is to focus on your breath.  You start out our practice by being aware of our breath and only our breath.  We chase away all thoughts and become present in the moment.  Concentration is on your breath going in through your nose and filling up your chest and belly.  We hold it for a moment and then let it all out.  We do this a few times and then we start to normalize our breath, but are always aware of it.  At the same time, we are aware of our bodies.  We realize the spots that are troubling us and send our breath to those spots.  As we flow into different poses, we are aware of our bodies movements.  There is no pressure to move into contorted poses.  We do what feels good for each of us.  It is our practice.  Even though hot yoga can be difficult, the awareness and the breathing help us connect our bodies to our minds so at times we don't even feel the heat. It is very powerful.  As a class, we are interconnected in the practice.  This state of being in yoga can be connected to conversation in that if we quiet our minds and listen to what is being said (or in the case, our bodies) we can create meaning.  Meaning helps us become connected to the other person.  An awareness is created that allows us to see where the conversation is and has the possibility to go.