I fall in and out of love with my practice of yoga. In a bigger picture way, where yoga encompasses the art of living in connection, I practice often. Yet I’m talking here about the “on the mat” part of yoga, the physical poses (asanas) and breathing exercises (pranayama).
It’s not usually one of my every-single-day practices, but when I’m in the yoga groove, I do about 45 minutes to an hour, 4 or 5 days each week. Since I no longer have a full-time “day job,” the time of day when I do yoga varies – sometimes mid-morning, sometimes late afternoon. When I did work outside the home, I used to do it in the evening, before bed (because I’m not at all a morning person).
But over the past few months, I’ve gotten away from my physical practice of yoga. Until the dance challenge, that is. This particular challenge is mostly comprised of belly-dancers, with a focus on improv. Well, my practice is entirely improv. The only dance lessons I’ve ever taken were adult-ed ballroom dancing, and a 6-week belly-dance course that I took with a friend several years ago. But I simply love and adore dancing!
When I was at Kripalu four years ago, I did take a one-time YogaDance class. The idea was to move to the music, incorporating yoga poses into your free-form movements. I’m finding, as I get further into the daily dancing, that a lot of the moves I’m doing are inspired by my practice of yoga.
Not only has daily dancing increased the amount of exercise I’m getting and helped expand my creativity (like drumming does, interestingly). It has also served as a new way to wordlessly express deep emotions, inspired me to seek out a beginner belly-dance class, and now, is nudging me back toward the yoga mat.
I’m so thankful for this new practice, and I’m not going to stop when the 90 days is done.
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