What my yoga practice has taught me this week...

1. Practice really does make perfect! Not that I didn't know this already, but sometimes you forget. I did lots of hip openers this week, culminating in padmasana (lotus) pose today. Ardha padmasana (half lotus) is where it's at currently, but padmasana is there, waiting patiently in the sidelines for me to practice, practice, practice. And one day, my right foot will slide up over my left shin and rest in my left hip crease. It's *this* close!
2. Yoga keeps me young. It keeps you young too. I've been spending a lot of time with my 83 year old grandmother lately (not necessarily by choice, more on that later) and I see how she struggles to move. There is no suppleness in her spine. No breath awareness. No body awareness. An inability to get down on hands and knees, let alone get up again. Good thing she has a 'help, I've fallen and can't get up' button. I shudder at the thought of not being able to come to my mat, sit with intention and then push back into child's pose before that sweet transition into down dog. Ahhh, the first dog of the day...yet another reason to keep the mat rolled out and in plain sight. I don't mind getting old (I like to think I'm getting smarter with each passing year), but I want to be old and able to move!
3. The ultimate aim of my practice is to know myself better, right? Right. And my ultimate purpose is to serve, right? Right. Seems the Universe has thrown me another way to serve and it's not necessarily what I was looking for. But just like in an asana, we set the physical boundary first and then expand out from our heart. So that's what I've done with my grandmother. I've set my boundary: I will attend necessary medical appointments with her. I am the only family member who has knowledge of (a) medical terminology and (b) the medical system. But that is all. I can do that. But I won't give her two of my days off and a morning before work in a two week period. I will NOT shop with her (remind me to tell you the lazy-boy shopping story one day--well, on second thought, that's what made me have to set that boundary in the first place. Suffice it to say it was not an enjoyable experience and I will inherit the UGLIEST lazy-boy glider rocker known to man.) She has 4 grown children, 8 other grandchildren and 2 great-grandkids that are old enough to drive. So it doesn't have to be me that does everything. I can do some, but not all. I will do some, but not all. So yeah, my service has expanded and I've been working to keep my heart light and tongue soft and remember my higher purpose. This is also my yoga practice.
4. Saying goodbye...today was Slush Cup. The end of ski season. =( And I was home, nursing this nasty cold virus. So I got on my mat and remembered all the great times I had in the mountains this winter. Smiled softly. And let it go. And now it is spring...the promise of something new. Sweet. Lilacs almost blooming, the scent of freshly mowed grass, and the warmth of the sun on my face as I sit on my patio and drink in the birth of a new season. Mojito, anyone?