Challenges

Confession: I decided to do NaBloPoMo as a lark. Elizabeth was doing it and I accepted the challenge as well. And while I don't have a huge readership (like almost no readership)(thankyouverymuch if you are the readership), I've found it fairly easy to keep up with daily posts. There have been plenty of times, though, when I've been lost in my own little world after dinner when I suddenly realize that I need to write a blog post. Then I scramble for some pithy post and mostly come up short.

So Elizabeth decided that she would practice yoga every day in December. I enjoy yoga. It's a physical challenge and a mental one. But when I slip into the various asanas, I can feel both my body and mind say "Ahhhh!" I lengthen my spine, spiral my quads, and listen to and adjust my body. What I don't do is practice yoga every day. Or even every week, despite knowing the benefits I will gain from a daily practice. I resist it and I'm not sure why.

Perhaps it's because I don't have a really good spot to practice. Our house, while not small, has small rooms. But I've practiced in crowded yoga classes before and the rooms in the house can't be that cramped. Perhaps it's because our house is so cold in the mornings. I hate being cold and therefore often lie in bed, buried beneath the covers, visualizing doing yoga. But it's not the same.

But perhaps the real reason holding me back from doing yoga is fear. Fear that I'm not flexible enough (I'm not flexible at all). Fear that I'm not strong enough (totally not true, although head stand is challenging and hand stand, right now, is right out). But the real fear? Fear that I will see, through my body's inability to move through the asanas, that I'm old. But really? I'm not old. And the crazy thing is that by practicing yoga, I'll become more flexible (body and mind), I'll become stronger, and I'll stave off aging.

So perhaps I should accept the challenge, join Elizabeth, and declare December NaDaYoPraMo.

Namaste.