the year of asanas: foot in mouth pose.

last year i approached the new year in terms of skeins
(a skein, in this instance, referring to loosely wound balls of yarn)
i felt i had so many random bits buried within me
that i needed to pull out
and create something whole
(no matter the color or weight)
i worked on it
on all of it
and had some successes
but there were definitely missed stitches as well.

this year
as i head full force into what lies ahead
i have decided to approach 2011 in terms of asanas
(asanas, in this instance, referring to yoga poses).

i decided to use the term
because of something my yoga teacher had challenged us with
a couple of months ago;
she asked us to come up with a goal pose
a pose we wanted to achieve at some point
and to make that our own intention for our practices
both in and out of the studio.

you see
a new year to me is not about resolutions;
that would require resolve
something i rarely have.

however
a new year inevitably brings with it
hope
ambition
determination
a chance to embrace change
and each of these attributes i find in my yoga practice.

so this year
i'm speaking in asanas.

foot in mouth pose or shutupasana.

who takes you seriously when you look like this?

we are all capable of this pose

in fact many if not all of us have practiced this pose on more than one occasion.

you may be familiar with the effects it has on you mentally 

rather than physically (although depending on your depth in the pose

you may have more physical side effects than some).

this is a pose i have found myself on more than one occasion

in the last month

in the last year

times when i have let my mouth

get ahead of my brain

and then at the end of the day

laid in bed

wide awake

stewing over what i had said

what i should have said

and when i should have just shut the hell up.

so my intention

for the new year

is to come out of this pose

to stop talking before i even begin

and instead listen

learn

observe

and then give myself plenty of time to form a response.

"I am burdened with what the Buddhists call the 'monkey mind' -- the thoughts that swing from limb to limb, stopping only to scratch themselves, spit and howl." ~Elizabeth Gilbert

what asanas are you working on this year?

go well.