Obstacles

Yoga is, in large part, about identifying obstacles and eliminating them.  I am sure that many would say that a tight hamstring or in-flexible joints are obvious obstacles, not so.  Whether I can sit for an hour in padmasana or whether I have troubles just sitting in sukasana does not matter, the asanas are to train the body for stillness and that can be accomplished regardless of how tight or loose one’s body is.  In truth, the notion that my body being too tight or too loose is the true obstacle as I am missing the opportunity that my body is giving by only focusing on whether I can do such a pose perfectly or not.  In reality, the only way to do a pose incorrectly is to hurt oneself.

I have run into a bit of an obstacle though:  Time.  As I’ve mentioned on my other blog, I am now working four ten hour shifts each week.  This schedule has potential to wreak havoc on my practice.  Previously, I was arriving at home by 16:30 and so had time to practice before dinner.  Now I arrive home about 18:00 which is when we eat dinner.  To be able to sleep well enough to function the next day, I need to be in bed by 21:30 which is about the time that a regular meal will have digested enough to not hamper an asana practice (adho mukha svasana is very unpleasant on a full stomach).  This is going to mean a rather drastic change in my lifestyle to eliminate this obstacle:  Two half meals.  Each night I will take the same portion of food that I would normally and I will half it.  I will place half of it in a container for my lunch the next day and I’ll eat the remaining half.  Hopefully, this will allow me to still have a good asana practice each evening.

Namasté