Winter is here

The third day of winter and I can feel the cold in my bones.  Winter is a nice time to get rugged up and stay in doors with the heater on.

When the season changes everything around us changes and I’ve really noticed how my practice has had to change from the nicer weather of summer and autumn to the very cold months in the middle of the year.

Instead of coming into class and spending time relaxing and dropping into my ujjayi breath before class, I am spending time in a seated position doing some pranayama such as Nadi Shodna.  I feel this helps to prepare the body in these cooler months.  By the end of a few round of Surya Namaskar A & B to open the class I have totally left the cold behind.  I am warm from the inside out.

Winter is a time, I believe, that tests us.  It’s much easier to get home from work and settle into the couch with the heater on, instead of going to class or if you practice in the morning, much easier to stay in bed.  I always find that as hard as it is to sometimes drag myself out of bed or the house, once I’m in class and when it’s finished and I’m on the way home I always feel so much better and so grateful that I made the effort to go.

Tonight will be one of these tests, today has reached a max temp of 13 degrees – I’ll need to harness the Tapas within to get to class tonight….