I’ll get back to that, but first, I need a white board in my shower! One that would work in a shower. I find that all my best thoughts come to me mid-shower and I end up rushing to get out, grasping those thoughts!

Ok, back to the original thought process… A new yoga studio opened in my area recently (I’m sure I’ll write more on that in the near future) and I was super excited to try out this teacher my friends have told me about. Everything was going according to plan and the class was starting off pretty good, then the woman one person over stopped and the teacher came over…the class ended up being cancelled due to a medical emergency (she seemed to be ok, but needed medical attention to make sure everything would continue to be ok). This raised the question: when do you practice yoga?

This question has come up for me quite a lot recently. A little background; I’ve been doing yoga for close to 10 years now; however, I’ve been practicing yoga for about three years. I say I was doing yoga during those first seven years because I was, what my friend liked to call, a ‘clock-watcher’; I would show up, do the poses and constantly think about all the things I did that day or needed to do that night, or the next day, or the coming weekend…and then I would tell myself off for not focusing. About three years ago (could be four), Rockstar Yoga Teacher Laura said something in class that has stuck with me; she said, something along the lines of: watch your thoughts like you’re watching leaves floating down a river; don’t try to reach in and grab the thought, just watch it pass by. It’s ok to have thoughts, but just see them float along. That changed me. Now, I practice yoga and I find myself practicing yoga everywhere, during every situation. It’s ok to think things as they happen, but I don’t hold onto the thoughts or situations, I just let them float on by.

It’s very easy to get caught up in a situation and how it makes you feel, and how you feel about how it makes you feel, but really, it’s just a temporary moment and a temporary feeling.

When things don’t go according to plan, or a coworker annoys you, or you make a mistake, or, or, or…try watching that moment/thought/situation float on down that river (it might be a slow river and that’s ok) and allow yourself the freedom to not grab at it and hold on and squeeze it and look at it from all different angles and agonize over it…just let it float… Oh, and if you do grab it, just unclench your fist and let it float off (watching the judgement thought that’s sure to follow float on down that river behind the original one…because I know it’s there).

That’s when I practice yoga everywhere, in every situation; it’s not just about the perfect asana practice – they both come with time 🙂