Effort and Ease

As I settled into yoga class yesterday morning, I was aware of not having had enough sleep, of having a long ride to pick up my daughter and of knowing that rush hour traffic was part of the deal.  And yet, there was an excitement to the day.

At 2am, I was awakened by the beep of one of my alarm detectors - the battery was dying.  Swiftly, I took out the step stool and began unscrewing the downstairs, then the upstairs smoke alarms, only to find that neither was the issue.  Soon, I honed in on the problem - it was the CO2 alarm.  Upon reading the directions, I pressed in on the button and the alarm starting ringing.  OMG, not wanting to wake the neighbors, I pressed in the button and thankfully it stopped.  About a minute later, the periodic beeping began again.

By this time, I was frustrated, fully awake and hunted down a 9V battery, thinking this would remedy the situation, but NO, the periodic beeping continued.  I tried another 9V to no avail.  It was now close to 3am and I needed to be up in a few short hours if I wanted to go to yoga before the long ride.  I decided to put the detector in a bag and out on the porch.

I could still hear the beeping as I focused on my breathing and went back to sleep, awakening  at 5:45.  Usually this interrupted sleep would do me in for the day, but I felt good.  I read my daily color card and it was white - a message of light and to "lighten up".  How appropriate - I chuckled as I thought about my choice for mood for this day.  I could choose to be grumbly or I could choose to feel good about treating my body well before a long ride, as well as to feel the excitement of seeing Ashley following her five weeks back at school.  I was very aware that I was indeed choosing!

As I embraced my mat, fully present, the message that the instructor talked about was the balance of effort and ease.  I felt it in my postures and felt it in my thoughts and emotions.  Something really clicked and I was grateful.

During the drive to UMass, I continued to ponder this concept and recognized how I have shifted.  My old self would "muscle through", be stoic and heroic - and while this behavior has some merit, it also can be very detrimental when overused.  Life, health and true wellness is really about balance or homeostasis in the scientific world.

We often hear these terms, understand them cognitively or on an intellectual level, but it is in embodying them and feeling them, that our body and soul can integrate them into our being.  Yoga and the breathing involved provides a platform for this transformation.

I offer to you to these key words - effort and ease - what do they mean to you?
Peacefully,
Julie