Pick Your Battles

 

Day 11: Vinyasa flow w/Jene Rossi-9-10:30 Prana Power Yoga Newton

The only thing better than a good yoga class is a good yoga teacher. I truly, 100%, believe this. In my opinion, you can go to class at the greatest studio ever, with an amazing sequence, but if the teacher isn’t someone you feel like you can relate to or connect with, the class is ruined. You get hung up on their voice, their comments, their mannerisms, and it becomes impossible to fully engage yourself in the practice. Jene is a GREAT teacher. I have been practicing yoga since high school, and Jene was one of my first yoga teachers. I’ve never forgotten the positive energy she emits during class. When I saw she was subbing at Prana for the 9 a.m. class I knew I had to go. I didn’t care if I had to stay in on a Saturday night to make it to class feeling energized and refreshed, I just knew I had to be on my mat, at Prana, at 9 a.m., on Sunday morning.

When class started I was worried. Less than 24 hours prior I had been pruning up in Masaaki’s class, and here Jen and I were, again, sweating our brains out, for another 90 minutes. I didn’t know if it was dehydration, the freshly lacquered floors of the studio, or both, but 60 minutes into class I literally thought I was going to puke. It was a weird feeling though because I wasn’t yearning for class to end, or considering walking out, rather I was angry I felt this way. The sequence was the perfect mix of predictability and individuality, the heat was my ideal temperature, and the energy was spot on. I think I was just physically exhausted, and the feeling was manifesting itself today. Right when I thought I might have to spend the rest of the class in child’s pose, Jene stopped class to ask us if we wanted to go to the wall. “YES!” was my response. Often times I get frustrated when a class is paused to practice head stand or handstand at the wall. It can feel abrupt, especially if you are super into the flow and have a good vibe going. This pause fit in perfectly, and I think everyone was craving a few minutes to play around with some fun poses that are not regularly worked into every class.

At the end of the class, Jene spoke about being non-reactive. Her example was something so insignificant; the action of wiping a bead of sweat from our eyes as we lay in Shavasana instead of letting it drip down our faces.  This got me thinking. We tend to be a reactive culture. No matter what the situation, we do something about everything. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is definitely a trait that can be exhausting. Before Jene started talking about letting a bead of sweat just drip, I had been reaching for my towel to wipe the sweat from my face. My own natural reactivity was disruptive to my own calm. Why was I unable to just drift into Shavasana without wiping this sweat from my face? It’s not like these beads of sweat were causing me any sort of pain or discomfort. There are so many day-to-day instances where I could save tremendous amounts of energy by choosing not to react. It is tiring to fight every fight. It is so much more practical for us to pick our battles and only exert energy reacting to things worthy of a reaction.

Moral of today’s class:

1. Come to Boston and go to one of Jene’s classes!!

2. If you pick your battles you will have so much more energy for the important things 🙂

-A

“Choose your battles wisely. After all, life isn’t measured by how many times you stood up to fight.It’s not winning battles that makes you happy, but it’s how many times you turned away and chose to look into a better direction. Life is too short to spend it on warring. Fight only the most, most, most important ones, let the rest go.”

-C. Joybell C