Summer is quickly hurtling towards it’s end. And I feel torn. I am loving this slow pace of life, and I am ready for the new exciting chapters of work ahead. 

On weekdays, I am out of the house at 6 am for my Mysore Yoga class. Summer mornings definitely make it easy to get me out of bed and ready at this early hour. I get to turn on the lights and open the window blinds at the studio. The candles are lit, and I get to my mat soaking in the vibes of a quiet studio in the softness of the morning light still waking up. Slowly people start trickling in, and the energy of the room picks up, and the collective breathing is a sound of it’s own. The sweat is trickling down my arms, and my muscles are flexing and stretching to make different shapes as I coax them to inhabit these new physical territories of being. My teacher is adjusting people in these shapes with her nurturing but challenging touch. My body is slowly learning that it can go further than it has been made to believe all these years, that it is slowly learning to grow stronger and more mobile. That it is capable. 

Everyday I get a centimeter better with the various yoga poses of the Ashtanga Primary Series. That one little bit better of holding a shape, twisting from the right muscles, or getting hold of fingers and toes where once it was not even possible to imagine, or to balance in a way that seemed far far away once upon a time.

Every little growth counts. Every little muscle-learning helps with the motivation of getting up early every morning, and making the commitment to show up. The people ahead of me on this journey inspire me to keep going. Because they were once where I am today. 

But most importantly, my body shocks me. How quickly it is learning and embracing this challenge of going further that I ever thought I could. How amazing this body is to keep learning and growing, or remembering the details, the adjustments, and get deeper. I am in awe of my body. It teaches me that if I take care of it, and coax it forward with love, without pushing and shoving, and accept the slowness of this growth, it will grow, it will get stronger, it will show up.

This summer Mysore practice has been an eye opener for me. I thought I would get bored of doing the same thing, but at least it is only for the summer. I thought I already knew enough about the poses I was already able to do. I didn’t know the magic of showing up everyday, and getting meditative about breathing, about flowing thought a series day in and day out, about the joy of getting that tiny bit better with time.

Of all my personal endeavors this summer, yoga is my highlight. I look forward to it, and do not dread the early morning wake ups or going to the yoga studio whatsoever. I didn’t know that my intention of showing up in an IRL yoga class atleast 20 times this year would morph into me going deep in Ashtanga practice, and finding out its beauty growing with consistency in my mind. 

I only hope the end of summer would not mean an end to this spot of brightness in my life. Because this way of learning and moving and showing up are getting to be a spiritual practice for me that I would hate to give up.