Bean

Happy December!
So the yoga I like to do is the kind that can be described the way I would describe food. I learned in my teacher training that when first learning yoga, "you do yoga". It's a physical practice; something that is done. The muscles and bones in certain positions and doing certain jobs. As the practice progresses the actions shift and "yoga does you". The full union and connection of body, mind, and spirit comes to fruition. I think of it as yoga begins to move through me. There is still the physical effort but there is something else too. Make sense? I like that. Those times where the physical effort melts away and it's pure bliss. I like the stretches to feel yummy. The poses to feel delicious and like I am doing a wonderful thing for myself.

My dog Bean is the ultimate stretcher. The way he moves when he wakes up from a nap to go out for a walk just looks so good. So yummy. So... "I want to stretch like THAT!" He's an inspiration. Yes. My little smush faced dog inspires my practice. First, he gets up and does a deep downward facing dog pose (usually paired with a long yawn) and then he rolls through a cat like curved back into an upward facing dog pose. I have rarely seen a dog go into an upward facing dog pose. I started to wonder why it had that name. His stretches are so juicy and he does them with such pizazz! Or maybe it's more the movement moving through him and he goes with it. Really getting into the movements. Oh if everyone stretched like Bean and put that kind of energy, yumminess, and goodness into it, the world would be a much better place!

peace,
julia


World, meet Bean and his amazing stretches...

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