Acceptance
One of the things that bugs me is how busy I get sometimes and really just can’t make it to practice. It’s a huge committment to get there. When you consider travel, cool down, shower, etc. a 90 minute class quickly becomes a 150 minute committment. Given that I have to get my 2 boys off to school every morning at 7:20, and that Bikram Yoga is not the only activity in my life, I often find myself struggling to find a time to get to class. And I get grumpy when I can’t go and end up taking it out on people.
But that’s not being a good yogi is it?
Just as I have to accept that after 6 months it is still difficult for me to stand on one locked leg for 60 seconds, I also must accept that there are other aspects of my life that need to be attended to. I can’t always just drop everything and go - much as I would like to at times.
Yoga is helping me to learn how to deal with this. In class I often find that I’m having a hard time accepting the heat or the humidity, getting angry or frustrated during class because the instructor won’t open the door or turn on the fans. I wiggle and squirm in Savasana, trying desparately not to run out, screaming “screw it!” over my shoulder as I slip through the door and am gone. But it never happens. I accept it. I try desparately not to try, but to just be.
So, now, I need to take that practice into my daily life. I need to simply accept that today I must get the kids to school, deal with the furnace repair man and later the chimney sweep, the early dismissal the kids have from school, the midterm I still have to write for class tomorrow, and the house cleaning required for our guests arriving tonight. Adding 2.5 hours of travel, practice, shower, travel just isn’t going to work no matter how grumpy I get with Katie.
There is a prayer called the “Serenity Prayer”:
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
It fits just about perfectly here. I just might add something like, “Lord grant me the strength to stand on one locked out leg for 60 seconds, the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, etc….”
