stop and stare

Vendella Johanssen for Marie Claire Czech

Almost a week of yoga and I am slowly becoming more cognizant of my mind and body . . . I notice these storms of anxiety that clouds my mind or natural waves of worriness that overwhelms my body every time I hit some sort of roadblock in my studying.  I keep feeling there's not enough time or I'm going to succumb to failure . . . I've only been studying for 3 hours and I already need a break . . . I stumbled across this short clip (below) and it helped me put things into perspective.  I forget that finals is merely just that, a series of exams.  Important, but not enough to destroy today, Friday December 9, 2011.  I will pace myself for the next 6 hours.             

yoga

via Pinterest

After 9 hours of sitting at my desk and stressing over finals today, I took a breather and tried out my new Yoga DVD that came in the mail earlier today.  I laid out my yoga mat in front of the TV, closed the curtains, and turned off all the lights so only the glimmer from the string of Christmas lights wrapped around our cute 4 ft noble fir modestly lit up the room.  As I started with the sun salutation pose and paid close attention to my breathing, I started to inhale the aroma of pine and felt the warmth of Christmas sink deep into my core.  The stress in my body slowly evaporated from my heart. . .

Ahhh. . . this is my Ashram.