Over the holidays, my yoga practice suffered greatly, mostly due to a lack of time, and an over-abundance of food in my belly. The post holidays found me with back-to-back illnesses, and I could barely breath due to congestion, and my practice further suffered. Over the past couple weeks however, I’ve gotten back into my yoga practice with “guns blazing” as it were. I love, love, LOVE yoga. It provides me with an effective method of grounding and centering, as well as familiarizing myself with my body, breathing, internal energy, and of course, providing me with an amazing workout. This really fits in well with ANY spiritual path, and especially well with my own. If you’ve never tried yoga, and have been interested, or even just want to see what the fuss is about, today is a PERFECT day to start. There are many free classes being offered today all over the country. Even if there’s not a class near you, there are many online resources that can get you started. One of my favorite resources is YogaJournal, which offers articles, podcasts, and even information on each individual pose. I highly recommend this site.

Something I’ve started doing, is keeping a yoga journal of my own. Lyon and I had discussed this idea a while back, and I’ve decided to run with it. I keep a small paper journal, and keep a log of what workouts I’ve done each day, my impressions of the workout, what I’ve felt internally from the workout, where I feel sore the day after, affirmations to keep myself motivated, etc. Along with this, I’ve started taking a deeper interest in human anatomy, learning where the muscles in the body are, what they’re called, what they do, what they look like, how they react to each other, etc. My hope is that by gaining a better understanding of my own musculature, I will be better able to focus into each asana, targeting and becoming more aware of what exactly it is I’m feeling, and being aware if what I’m feeling is what I SHOULD be feeling.

What is your own yoga practice like? I love talking yoga, I’m very passionate about the subject, which is amusing. Not that long ago I didn’t practice at all, and didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. Now that I’ve tried it and felt the benefits, I’m so incredibly hooked. I’d love to hear about your stories of your own practices. If you don’t practice, by all means, please consider it. Happy Yoga Day!

I left for dinner from my house, and got in my car, and began the long drive to Midland.  For most of this drive I took River Road, instead of Midland Road, as I wanted a more scenic view.  River Road, appropriately enough, runs alongside the Tittabawassee River, and goes right through the outlying reaches of a little town called Freeland.  The town where I grew up.

For some reason, driving through there last night, I was feeling really good.  The scenery was incredible, as the sun was setting.  There are a lot of bare trees now, but where once they were orange, or red or yellow, now the ground is this color.  The fields are harvested.  There are great expanses of bare earth, and it was humming.   It was feeling really good.  I made some sort of connection to the land, or it made one with me.  But it felt like being a kid again.  Everything felt familiar.

The past two days I’ve found myself amazed at earth.   Though yes, I’m amazed at our planet as well, that’s not exactly what I’m talking about.  Earth.  Soil.  Dirt.  The surface of the planet.   Specifically, its ability to just… absorb.

I was amazed yesterday, while visiting with my neighbor, at what has happened behind his garage.  We had both broke up a lot of concrete around our homes, and he put the pieces behind his garage to keep the weeds down.  What’s amazing to me is how the stones have sank into the ground these past two years, so that now, there’s almost a little pathway running behind his garage.  I’ve noticed my brick pile I had laid out has sank down one whole layer of bricks.  This lay is far enough into the ground that it’s starting to get covered up.    The stones I had put out into my driveway to keep the mud down (dirt driveway), have all sank quite a bit as well.  I went to the grocery store today and noticed some parking curbs were off the pavement, and onto the dirt.  They had sank about halfway down.

I feel like I’m being shown something.  For now, I’m going to sit with my thoughts, though I’d welcome any of yours.

Saturday I’m scheduled to write for Lyon at The Wandering Hearth.  I can’t even begin to express how honored I am to have been asked, or how special this is for me.  I’ll be joined that weekend by two other guest bloggers, Bella Foxglove from Wanderings of a Wondering Mind, and Jupiter Greenmoone of Carnelian Chronicles.

All for now, have a good morning.