Some Days, I Choose a Yoga Mat
On other days I choose a surfboard
Long-time yogi and good-time surfer here! I’ve found myself comparing yoga and surfing lately. Both have positive impacts and A-ha! moments in my life. Yoga changed my life. It showed me where my self-practice was lacking, and encouraged me to create a mental practice.
I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started yoga all those years ago. My spiritual practice was strong, and my physical practice wavered, but I knew what to do (and not do) to be my best ‘physical’ version. However, I didn’t have a mental focus; I never thought about it.
The reality is that the crap we tell ourselves on the yoga mat is the same stuff we tell ourselves all day, every day. We don’t usually have the silence or time to listen and acknowledge it. We need the silence and space to hear it, and then we can consciously decide not to listen. Only then does it wear thin, eventually quieting and disappearing. I wouldn’t have spoken to anyone else the way I spoke to myself. I am grateful to yoga for pointing that out!
A yoga class is a controlled environment. I’m committed to 90 minutes, unlike a home practice where distractions are everywhere. Sure, we don’t know what class we’ll get — it might be hard, too easy, or not what we hoped for. And some days, we have to hold chair pose…
