Within the Winter SHINE offering, I provided members with a few sun salutation variations. I asked them to think about the sun saluations and how, if at all, they would like to weave them into their daily practice. How often? Where? When?
I participate in SHINE myself and I am also finding time for my practice. Planning is so important to activating change. If we want something, we have to take the time to plan. That goes way beyond putting something on our calendar and saying it needs doing. These changes and plans need to be relevant for them to work. That means they do not need to be complete pictures of the final goal AND we need to be flexible.
I have just moved. There are boxes still stacked in corners and they may never be unpacked because I don’t know how long I will be here. This house is tiny for the number of people living here. There is no place for me to leave my mat set up or to practice without being on top of someone else. In the past, leaving the mat set up was a helpful structure to getting me to my practice. Now, I have to change. I have decided, after careful reflection that practicing 3 sun salutations followed by one salutation flow of my own every day is the practice I should commit to completing. I realize that, though I would like a longer more invovled asana practice, it is not a realistic expectation of myself in this moment. I realize also, that making this small commitment will keep me connected with my practice, my body, and my breath. That is my goal, to connect my inner world and my outer world through my physical asana practice.
I can complete this practice during morning asana/circle time on Monday-Thursday as part of our homeschool morning, and I can weave them into the days Friday-Sunday. I have set a little reminder on my phone to check in with myself each evening and notice if I completed my asana practice. Notice, I said NOTICE. I am not to beat myself down if I did not. I am to question. What was in my way? What was my barrier to practice?
If I am noticing barriers on more days than not, then I need to adjust my plan to address the barriers. We change the plan, not the goal.