Time for yourself.

This weekend I had one of the hardest yoga classes I have ever had in my life. I made it through the first 3 warmup postures before my body told me enough was enough. I sat for the next three postures…postures I HATE to sit through. I thought, if I just focus on my breath maybe I can finish the standing series. When the class went into separate leg stretching; I stood up, determined to finish class strong. Within a minute my body again said no. I listened, but didn’t give up on my class. I figured if I could at least do one thing that day it was breath.  As I laid on my back, I focused on just breathing for the rest of the standing series. Almost harder than fighting through the postures.

How often do you take the time to focus on yourself for 90 minutes? Think about all the things you are asked to do in a day.

• Maybe your boss needs you to get a presentation ready.
• Maybe your kids need to get to practice.
• Maybe your cat throws up on your floor and you have to clean it up.
• Maybe there is construction so you are late.
• Maybe, Maybe, Maybe, Maybe

There is always going to be something you have to do, but despite all these things, do you still take some time to think about what you need for the day? When you think about it, giving 90 minutes JUST TO YOU and YOUR NEEDS is hard to do. But should it be that hard? Shouldn’t you give yourself some time each day to just focus on you, your body, and your needs? If your body needs something during that 90 minutes, it probably really needs it those other 22.5 hours when it is being pulled in all directions. Runners, you need to do the same too. Use your run to listen to your body. If you treat it right, it will tell you if you need a rest day or some more protein or carbs in your diet.

And then again, maybe all we need to do is to remember to breathe. My body may not have been able to do all my yoga postures this weekend, but it did need to breathe. Today I went in with really no expectations. Given my last class I figured, worst case I would work on breathing again. Today I was able to practice strong throughout all 26 postures. I also remembered to focus on my breath which helped me not just finish my postures, but rather push further into them, stretching beyond the point I normally can. We may be able to do complex and tough things, but remember those actions always stem from the simplest things we forget to do.
Spend some time today focusing on just you. Are you tired, hungry, grumpy, happy? If you spend time each day focusing on what you need you might be able to tackle the rest of your day with more patience and strength.