Relaxing Goddess

This week has been all about yoga for me. It's funny, when I started this blog last month, writing was at the center of my world. Don't get me wrong, my writing is still of the utmost priority in my life. But I'm striking more of a balance these days and it feels great. I've started a book club with a bunch of friends, and we're reading our third book this month, and I've taken up yoga. I'm still new to the practice, but I love it already. The poses feel great for my body, and the mindful breathing does wonder for my soul. It's going to take some time for it all to feel familiar every time I go, but I'm learning and I always enjoy learning.

Tonight was a bit challenging, though not for the reasons one might assume. I have horrible allergies, and they have been particularly debilitating the past week or two. My eyes have been itchy and swollen (have't worn eye make-up for over a week now- yuck) and there's been lots of sneezing. At yoga tonight, we posed in a twist at the hips and abdomen, chest, and face down on a bolster. That was it, forget deep, mindful breathing. I was sucking air through my mouth and barely able to hold the pose. My nose clogged up, and instead of mindfully breathing, i was mindfully gasping! Then I got distracted because I wasn't feeling relaxed. In my head, I started replaying my day. Ugh, the point of yoga is to move from the day's focus on things outside your body, to focusing inward. I was having a tough time with this. I know I'll get better at it, but my stuffed up nose and labored breathing made it labor intensive.

Just when I thought I had lost the ability to recover, we shifted our pose. Brand new to me, I absolutely loved this pose. Called the relaxing goddess, it opened up my entire chest and my sinuses! I was able to take the cleanest breaths and relax my entire body into the matt. Instead of ending the class in shavasana, at suggestion of the instructor I remained in relaxing goddess- my new favorite pose. And I gotta admit, love the name. It's fitting, don't you think?

Found this photo online, it's pretty close to our version of the "relaxing goddess" pose.