lessons from the mat, day 4 - Tue, Aug. 18

Every practice doesn't have to be the same.

On the mat:

Instead of practicing this morning, I practiced this afternoon after work.

Instead of meditating after my practice, I  meditated before my practice.

Instead of easing into my practice in my usual way, I eased into it a new way.

Off the mat:

I found myself making so many excuses at work, for why I shouldn't practice when I got home. 

After a full day of work, I had a full list of reasons not to practice. 

On my drive home, I weighed each reason against practicing. If practicing weighed more, that reason got bumped down the list. By the time I got home, I had only two things that were a higher priority than practicing. So after walking Greta to the pond and throwing sticks, and then coming back and watering Adria's garden...I practiced. 

Instead of jumping into the practice my usual way, I sat on my mat for a few minutes and checked in with myself about what my body needed. Then I tailored my practice to what my body needed. It was a practice that nobody in the world has ever done before.  :)

The last thing I want to do is treat my practice as something to mark off a to-do list. I don't want it to be an obligation.

So, to celebrate today's lesson, I looked at another activity in my life that could fall into the trap of "routine"...my bike commute to work. I pulled out my tattered map of Santa Cruz county and mapped out a new ride for tomorrow morning. I created a route that will take me higher into the Santa Cruz mountains than normal, then bring me back down towards the coast along a small road that I haven't yet ridden, all the way to the ocean, then back up to work. It will add about 4 miles to my current route, which is bueno.