Just Do It

All day yesterday, I kept thinking about when I could fit some yoga into my day. We got up early, took the canoe out to try to beat the rain storm that was coming, failed to beat the rain storm, and wound up spending some time in a lean-to while we waited for the rain to let up enough so that we could get back to the car without getting soaked. (We were soaked.)

Dinner time and bed time came and went. I had really wanted to put in a good hour or so of asana practice, but I never got around to it.

Then this afternoon, I took a break from everything around 4:30 and just decided that it was time to do yoga. So I grabbed my mat and went outside into the little spiral labyrinth that we have in the back part of the property where my Buddha sits under a locust tree. I unrolled my mat and turned on some music, but then decided that what I needed more was to listen to the bugs and the wind and the trees and my breath.

I set my meditation timer on my phone (because everyone has a meditation timer app on their phones, right?) to time my final savasana, but instead of setting it for 5 minutes, I set it for an hour and five minutes.

And like any good yogi who can't sit still or can't quiet the mind on any given day, I kept thinking to myself, huh, this savasana is taking way too long. Too long. How long have I laid here? Damn, there's a bug on my foot. What if a worm is crawling across the bottom of my mat?

Finally, I just gave in and brought myself back, and looked down at the meditation timer. It was still running. I had set it for an HOUR and five minutes, and I had actually been down in savasana for about 15 minutes before I sat up again.

I took another 5 minutes to do a seated mudra meditation at the end of my practice, looking up at the clear blue early autumn sky, and the leaves of the locust tree against the sun from behind my back. (I tried to snap a quick picture of it with my phone, but my phone is nearing the end of its useful life, and is pretty much just an overpriced music player at this point.)

I started thinking about what was coming for us - winter. Winter where it's -30 F every night for weeks on end, where we get snow drifts that are taller than I am, where it's muddy and cold and dark and grey.

When winter comes, I have to move my home practice inside. And since I've talked before about my tiny little house with it's tiny little (warm) rooms, you'll remember that it's not easy for me to find a place to practice yoga in my house.

This winter, though, I'm feeling like I need to just set all that aside and just do it. Right? Like the sneakers: just do it.

Because the truth about doing yoga at home (like pretty much anything else worth doing) is that it's never going to be the perfect time to do it. If you wait until the stars are aligned just right, your bank account is big enough, or whatever, you're never going to get around to doing ANYTHING.

So my mantra for this winter as I take my yoga practice back indoors in front of the cozy little space in front of the wood stove, with my candles and my Tara on the mantel, is going to be: This is the perfect place and the perfect time for yoga. Right now. Just do it.