Thursday, August 11, 2011

Yoga is my skinny jeans...

If you haven't noticed, I have a slightly short attention span.  Okay, okay, more like a mild case of ADD!  (Let's just say that if that diagnosis existed back when I was in school I was a shoo-in!)  Needless to say, each week (day, hour, minute) I have a new interest/passion.  This is reflected oh-so-brilliantly by the stack of books by my bed.  I am someone who is almost incapable of reading 'just one book' at a time. 



Lucky for me, I am at the point in my life now where most of my areas of interest are simply being 'recycled', meaning that they are all hobbies that I have already pursued.  I have spent most of the past 20 years being frustrated by this... wondering why I don't have the mental tenacity to 'stick with' anything.  More recently though, I have tried to relax into this pattern, realizing that 'it is what it is' and that by resisting something so instrinsic to my being I am wasting a lot of energy. 

Of late, I have once again renewed my passion and dedication to my yoga practice.  I have been practicing yoga (somewhat consistently) for about 10 years.  In 2005 I completed my 200 hr. Yoga Teacher Training down in Mexico which was truly one of the highlights of my life thus far.  After giving birth to Chephren, it took me a few months to return to my practice and when I did, it was quite sporadic in nature.  All of that changed when That Yoga Place - a hot yoga studio, opened up in Spruce Grove last summer.  I immediately purchased a one year membership and made a re-commitment to my practice.  I have also started teaching a few classes there which has been a great experience thus far. 

Why am I ranting about all of this?  Well, thanks to my shiny-new 'going with the flow' attitude (which I also call 'following the signs'), I have been recently introduced to a new (to me) yoga style called 'The Rocket'.  Invented by the late (and great) Larry Shultz (THE yoga teacher of the Grateful Dead), it is an Ashtanga-like routine that I am told will 'get me there faster'.  Really what it does is make a lot of the advanced poses (arm balances, forearm stands, handstands, etc.) accessible to everyone.  Here is a cool video to give you an idea of what it looks like:


rocket on the deck from peg mulqueen on Vimeo.

Thus far, The Rocket training (and more likely the amazing teacher that I am learning from) has me re-inspired and I feel a re-ignited passion for my yoga practice.  Yoga is my skinny jeans, meaning that when everything in my life is going well (which is pretty well is) then I seem to be able to reap the benefits of yoga even more... (it also helps that lots of yoga seems to help me back into my skinny jeans all over again!)  What I need to work on then is making yoga my 'comfy sweats'... something that I return to EVERY SINGLE DAY because of the comfort/calm/solace that it brings me.  For now though, I think I will 'enjoy the ride' of the Rocket and rock out in my skinny jeans.

Namaste,

Marebare