Today in class we practiced restorative yoga, for those that don't know what restorative yoga is; it's basically long ass holds with the help of props and support to allow us to melt into the pose.
The postures are usually simple, but the practice isn't easy. The stillness that comes with the practice can be some of the most difficult moments we come across in our yoga practice.
And this is the key to restorative yoga.
Most of us go into restorative thinking it's going to be easier than other practices, some even start yoga with restorative. Personally if I had done my first class of yoga in a restorative class I think I'd have never returned.
The key to restorative is to know that it is going to be a challenge, it's going to be hard, and probably not on the body, physically your body will love you for it, but mentally, that's where the challenge comes.
So why am I telling you this?
Because so many people give up on the magic of restorative because they find it hard, they give up and think that it can't be for them because they find it a challenge, they look around and see that everyone else seems to be finding it easy so they just concede that this type of practice isn't their type of practice.
Trust me, few are finding it easy, beneath the surface of stillness there's an inner war raging, like the image of a swan gliding over the water yet underneath the feet are paddling at full strength, beneath the surface of someone that looks like they're moulded over a bolster and half asleep is a world of monkey brain chatter and the challenge of staying still.
So why do it?
Because it's in this challenge, in this stillness that we really can find what makes us tick, what needs work, what narrative drives us and what's beneath the surface. And it's amazingly powerful for our nervous system, to totally allow the slowing of the physical and eventually the mind is HUGE.
I'm going to be brazen enough to say, if you find stillness and restorative a challenge this IS YOUR PRACTICE this is where you'll learn the most, or at least this is a practice that needs to be in your life a little more than maybe it is now.
The key to you succeeding at restorative yoga is to know it's not going to be easy, but that's why we do it.
And when we know that, suddenly a whole world opens to us in the stillness.
Want to give it a go, check out my latest restorative class on the wilderness.
See you on the mat
Megs xxxx
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