A person who recently took a restorative yoga class with me told the owner of the studio where I work that my class was hard.
Like, really hard.
Surprisingly hard.
When she asked why, the response she got may surprise you.
It was the quiet.
The quiet was the hard part.
The doing nothing while laying down with nothing to do was the hard part.
I was taken aback for a minute when she told me and then I remembered my first restorative yoga class.
Picture this: My body was supported in legs up the wall (just like the picture above), I was carefully covered with a soft, clean smelling blanket, my eye pillow rested over my eyes and then BAM!
No joke, within five minutes I truly believed I was going to have to live in the nervous hospital. I was clearly insane. The voices in my head got louder and louder the longer I stayed still. I kept wondering when the men in the padded van were going to come wrap my clearly crazy self up in a straight jacket and take me out of there.
My mind wouldn’t quit.
The deep dark hidden secrets I successfully avoided by staying busy had finally caught up to me when my body got quiet.
Basically, my mind kicked my ass for an hour and a half while I laid there in the quiet waiting for the padded room dudes to come get me.
Needless to say, It was quite a workout.
So I get it.
The quiet IS the hard part.
Sometimes I forget that laying down quietly with your body fully supported can be difficult.
I get it.
It clearly happens to us all.
I also get that sometimes we need to challenge ourselves to do hard things that are good for us.
Recently the New York Times published an article about how if you Relax! You’ll Be More Productive that has been widely across social media. I share it here with you because it perfectly illustrates my point about how lying down often, taking naps, taking vacations and breaks from your online world are hard, but totally worthwhile.
This gist of the article is exactly what I’ve said in my classes for years:
The less you do sometimes directly relates to how much more you can do other times.
So this, friends, is my invitation to you. Tuesday nights (and the first Sunday of each month) I teach how to live in the quiet. A nice supportive place to make friends with your inner critics.
Join me? It’s All Yoga in Sacramento, CA. Public and classes are available.
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Have you ever tried restorative yoga? Do you have a regular practice? What’s your experience?
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