Commitment?

Oh boy! It's sure been a while since I've posted!  My readership has dwindled to nothing, and I have no one to blame but myself.  It's been a rather busy (and soggy!)  month, May has.  For one, I've been in the throes of helping to plan my HS reunion.  I don't live near my hometown anymore and we're having a "destination" (but still within driving distance for most of us) reunion, so that involves lots of emails, phonecalls, and behind-the-scenes planning.  That, coupled with an event I planned at work along with 2 projects I've been working on with my students, my son's Little League games, and Husband's travels for work, I'm left with very little time for practicing yoga, let along blogging about it.

But, my dear reader(s), Summer is on the horizon, and brings with it the prospect of lots and lots of time on the mat for me!  It's going to be great, it's going to be fulfilling, and I'm sure I'll find it very renewing.  In preparation for all of this, I figured it was time to "renew" myself with home practice.

Husband and I thought we were done with middle of the night interruptions, but for some reason (maybe molars are coming in), our 4 year old has decided that he needs to put in an appearance in the middle of the night again.  Most of the time, we can snuggle for a minute before walking him back to his own bed and then resume our own visits to Dreamland.  Sometimes, though, these visits happen around 5 am, at which point, it's hardly worth it to fall back asleep, knowing we just need to get up "for real" a mere hour later.  On such occasions, I tend to throw in the towel and just get on with the day, and sometimes I'm motivated enough to unroll the ole' yellow mat and do a short DVD practice. 

These occasions are not reliable enough to make a commitment to my mat, though, so I've devised another way to get myself on the mat more often.  At the start of May, I pledged to do 5 Sun Saluations every day.  Usually these Sun Salutations are the last thing I do before bed at night, but I'm getting them in.  I'm honoring my commitment, and while they'd more aptly be named "moon salutations", I'm still doing *something* to keep my body informed of proper form and flow.  I'm sure this commitment is going to pay off when I'm back in that first class of the summer.  I'll be better equipped to make it 1/2 of the way through class, rather than only 1/4.  Yes, I'm sure some "beginner" classes will be needed to really refresh my muscle memory, but because of my Salutation commitment, it won't be nearly as painful. 

So, here's my flow for my "Daily 5", in case you'd like to join me:

Series 1 thru 4:

Mountain pose.  Swan dive down with straight legs to touch the floor/ankles.  Look out into the world ("monkey pose").  Standing forward bend.  First leg back to lunge.  Second leg back to plank.  Lower down into Chaturanga.  Swoop up to Upward facing dog.  Roll back to Downward facing dog. First leg forward to lunge, followed by second foot forward to standing forward bend.  Swan Dive up.

Series 5:

Mountain pose, Swan dive down, look out into the world, standing forward bend, hop both legs back to plank.  Chaturanga, Updog, Downdog.  Hop forward to standing forward bend.  Swan dive up.

Basically, it's 2 Sun Salutations starting on the right side, 2 Sun Salutations starting on the left side, and just to stay balanced (ie, not one side is starting more than the other) and challenge myself, I hop back on the last Salutation.  Totally manageable, and takes less than 5 minutes.  That's a commitment I think anyone can get behind.  Even a yoga slacker (shameful, considering I write a blog about it!) like me.

Upcoming post:  Do you have a goal for your summer practice?  Is there a posture you'll be working on, a mantra you'll be developing, a philosophy you'll be meditating on, a 5-Sun Salutation daily commitment?  I'd love to hear about it for an upcoming post...feel free to comment below!

Persist - "It's never too late to become what you might have been" - George Eliot