.....interval living

Dear Yogis,

I remember the feeling so vividly. Young mother, three boys, challenging full time sales job. Sunday nights I would steel myself. Getting ready to put my head down and charge ahead on Monday morning.  Going, going, going……doing, doing, doing……until Friday at 5, where I could finally lift my head, take a deep breath and relax.  Whew!

Even to the point that at the end of a vacation I would look ahead to see what the next ‘break’ was going to be and set that as my next mile marker. Christmas holiday, three day weekend, beach vacation.  If I can forge ahead to then I will again be able to have time to relax. 

But what about all of that time in between?  Those hours, those days, those weeks. Was I simply holding my breath to keep the momentum?  I’ve even watched people filled to the brim with stress, muscling toward that promise at the end of the rainbow – retirement – where they can finally relax. Is this living?

It reminds me of being a runner. When my friends and I were training for a marathon we went for our long runs on weekends. Getting going and finding a rhythm, only to have someone need to stop to pee in the woods or work out a cramp. Ugh. I hated those stops. I wanted to keep my head down and keep going to the end. A body in motion wants to stay in motion and those first couple of steps after stopping caused us all to collectively groan.

But a strong runner knows the benefits of interval running. Mixing up the long distance endurance, the slow relaxed jog, the fast sprint and the complete stops. Weaving them together for a fuller more sustainable practice. I was not working any intervals into my running, and most certainly not into my life. 

I now run with Phoebe.  Dogs are naturally interval runners. At first it irritated me (which only caused me to be irritated and did not change her into a long distance endurance runner). But I now realize that I am slowly becoming an interval runner. Stopping for her to sniff and me to notice the new buds on the trees, and starting back up again right where we left off. And the belly breathing I have been doing and teaching these past two weeks is reminding me that I have also begun to interval live.

No matter how crazy the hour, or day or week is that lies ahead, it contains countless moments in which to relax. But it takes remembering. Pausing, slowing, stopping. Noticing how any moment is a gift waiting to be unwrapped – not to be pushed through. Any moment.

My neck this past year has served as physical reminder of when it is time to pause. Phoebe’s wet nose under my elbow insistently pushing my hands off the keyboard also brings me here and helps me to remember that life isn’t a race. I began using my garden as my slow jog and my rock circle as my stopping. Standing up every couple of hours to go out there to feel.  But it could be as simple as turning your chair away from the PC to take five conscious belly breaths. Or glancing out the window to notice the shape of a tree. The more often you practice this, the quicker you are able to dive into deep peace with only a moment’s notice and pick back up without missing a beat.  

After my garden visits or even a single deep slow breath, I find I am more focused, more peaceful and ready for the next endurance challenge with no clenching. In fact I get more done and feel I have more time. This is balanced fire energy. The steady flame which burns bright without burning us out. Relaxed strength. 

If only I had understood this long ago….. but I wasn’t ready. 

Watching the belly rise and fall,
SARAH