Monday Night Blues? Try a Break, Baby!
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Relaxin' in the summertime is required. Photo via Pixelatedhologram's Flickrstream.
The weekend went by too fast and work today felt like forever.
You're crankin' the AC but you can't seem to get enough of the cool air.
All you're dreaming of is a long night drive, a little time at the beach house, an afternoon picnic to break up the mid-day doldrums. Maybe you could use a romantic evening with your special someone, no distractions, no questions asked. Or weekend getaway in the mountains?
Yeah. I'm there.
Or, if you're like me, you're simply interested in getting out of the house to mix it up after dinner. And since you've skipped the usual evening yoga class, you find yourself at a local pub/cafe where there's lively live music, interesting-looking characters and relaxingly-dim lighting (dim enough that hopefully no one will notice that you're all by your lonesome tip-tap-typing away on a little netbook!).
Tonight's one of those nights when I'm taking advantage of 100% relaxation in order to inspire my 100% dedication (coming to a Bikram studio near you...tomorrow!). As much as we'd all like to pretend it's not true, even we Bikram crazies must admit that there comes a moment when we need to back off a little in order to re-formulate our love for the yoga.
I suppose it's like they say: too much of a good thing, and it's not worth anything.
It's just like the Bikram quote my lovely teacher mentioned the other day in class. As the Boss himself says, "I have the biggest swimming pool in Los Angeles. But I don't know how to swim."
The point is true here, too: even if you've got the best resources in the world, they'll do you no good if you don't know how to put them to good use. If you push too hard in a posture and compromise integrity so you can fake depth, you get nowhere. And even we obsessive back-to-back doublers know sometimes a little break -- a day or two away from the Torture Chamber -- can do some good for inspiring your practice and bringing it to soar to new heights.
The lovely Joanna over at Lock the Knee posted about this recently, after returning from her Sequoia camping trip and discovering that -- hey! -- balancing stick posture is way more fun if you're lookin' for some seriously heart-pounding cardio.
That's what I am talking about here: finding ways to appreciate with new compassion the postures which we generally take for granted, or simply tend to make our personal enemies during class.
Often a quick break will help us realize what we've been missing all along.
It's like the crazy, mandolin-rockin', bass-thumpin' band I'm listening to is singing:
It's the freakin' weekend, baby, I'm about to have me some fun!
Alright, so it's still Monday night -- but if you wanted, you could make the choice to take a break from your mid-week blues, maybe even take a one-night breather from the Bikram, or break out of your very genre (that's right, I'm witnessing a country band cover a ridiculous R&B song like it's their first and foremost style of expertise). Surprise yourself! Breathe a little! You never know: it could do wonders.
Some unexpected Monday-night mandolin in place of yoga class. Hells, yeah! Photo via MSync111's Flickrstream.
