Certain times of the year make us more aware of the cyclical nature of life. September is one of those times… be it the end of summer, the kids going back to school or the resumption of “term time” activities… we can all feel it somehow. Some of us will feel excited about new beginnings and opportunities and others will feel quite uncomfortable or even sad or drained with the prospect of investing their energy into “re-starting” life in one way or another. But we all have to “deal” with it.
Mindful practices have a similar nature to those cycles of life. We might start practicing with the idea that we’ll only be making progress, but after a while we realise that actually we are going to have ups and downs and plateaus and cycles that require a “restart” every now and then. On a certain level we are always moving forward - making progress - getting physically older but also wiser; and on another - parallel level, we move in cycles.
Mindful practices move in many different cycles: when we take time off from practicing, our muscles get weaker and the body gets stiffer, often reverting back a bit to where it was in the past. During periods that we are not well, we back off and reduce the load in order to not overwhelm the system and get seriously sick. When life presents us with mental and emotional challenges we often try to maintain our practice but after a while may realise that it is becoming counterproductive. We get “better”, stronger, more flexible, more balanced… then take a few steps back… and then start again.
Judging ourselves as good or bad, successful or failing does not really help us deal with life’s cycles. Acceptance, is the best we can do really. Each new cycle presents us with an opportunity to start fresh - to re-explore the body and what it can achieve; to surprise ourselves with the realisation of how much we already know and how quickly we can get back to feeling good about ourselves. So don’t let the task ahead feel overwhelming! Enjoy the steps you’ll be making along the way. Be present and remember that the wheel is never too far from turning your way. No doubt that it will!!
We put together some classes that will help you get back into the swing of things!
Have a great month
The yoopod team