Inner Smile, Outer Smile

Why are routines so hard to make and so easy to break?  The second Leith Hall outdoor yoga session was today.  Have I been pressing heels down recently? Nope.  It’s been too cold, my back hurts, I’ve slept in, I’ll do it this evening (never do).  Last Monday I thought I’d do a session in the morning and another one in the evening for the rest of the week.  Once the laughter subsided, realised that was a recipe for disaster.  I mean, the whole point of booking both of these outdoor sessions was to have some pleasant treats to work towards. Goals, to gauge how much I had improved from one to the other. 

Drove there this morning in a yoga panic that I’d make a complete spectacle of myself by being a yelping, stiffened-up wannabe.  Worse, that I’d end up stuck on the ground, limbs akimbo, like a capsized tortoise, and the real yoginis would have to hoist me back into an upright position, straining their warmed-up, Lycra’d muscles.  Worse than that, they’d be so nice about it.  Aaaargh!

But that potential humiliation would only take an hour of my day, I’d get over it.  The bigger question is, why am I screwing up my future health by not taking care of these small, simple daily practices?

Well, because I’m human, that’s why.  Sometimes I meander, sometimes I fail, sometimes I learn what’s important down amongst the rigmarole.  Instead of beating myself up, for my own humanity, I can choose again, and again,

Show up. 

Have a go.

Reset.

Slight mizzle of rain left as we started seated in ‘inner smile’ mudra.

Mizzle returned as we ended in Shavasana, our faces gently watered, like the plants.

Making me ‘outer smile’.

How could I forget how good it all is?

https://www.tummee.com/yoga-poses/inner-smile-mudra

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavasana

Images for this journal have been posted on Insta @purplehaze_journals