slow lane

kim on 1:48 pm March 10th, 2010 / 1 Comment »

In a previous post I suggested a couple of after-swim poses, which I did again yesterday, and which felt great again.

Yesterday, after an all-night bender with the daughter, I was exhausted and honestly interested in splashing around in the pool instead of trying to keep up in the Medium Lane. (That organization, by the way, seems to keep people sane in an East Coast Pool. Otherwise, Grandpa with the snorkel isn’t in the way of Type-A-even-in-water-Guy lapping everybody in .5 seconds).

So it was Grandpa and me. He, with the snorkel and flippers, and me, with the bags under my eyes and a kickboard. This Pitta woman has a hard time slowing it down, and later, in yoga class as my teacher instructed this pose and this pose and this pose, I was, again, in the slow lane.

I am slowing down, of course, because I just had baby, and the first of the problems in a postpartum body is a weak core. Add bouncing baby 10+ hours a day, and you’ve got a tight neck and shoulders, and often, low back pain.

These physical issues, though, sound like a lot of America. So it occurred to me yesterday, as I observed the others — from pool to yoga classroom — speeding past me and creating shapes beyond me, that there are advantages to slowing down and looking around.

Slowing down gives you the opportunity to create a reality with (probably, but not always) more intention, and in the asana (pose) context, it gives you the chance to observe more deeply what what’s really happening in your body. To be sure, John Schumacher was instructing poses deliberately and slowly, and most of the class had few problems manifesting his information. But what worked for me in class, especially, was watching the others make these shapes based on his instructions, and to imagine that information ultimately making its way into my body.

I will find these shapes soon by taking it slowly. You will, too.

1. 
   On March 15th, 2010 at 2:30 pm Jody Said:

   Loved this Kim. Slowed and slowing down is exactly where I have been for a good while now and I sometimes feel very impatient about it. like, why can’t I do more, why can’t I be more like I was a few years ago (when, for example, I was able to do handstand at the wall)? At the same time, I can feel myself progressing, getting stronger and actually beginning to understand and integrate my yoga practice at a deeper level than ever before. I am paying more attention to what is happening physically and mentally and with the breath as I wait for the pose to unfold. (now there’s a change: waiting for the pose to unfold, as opposed to trying to muscle my way into a position). In that context and at that slow speed, I can be much more aware of the small adjustments I need to make or that my body is already making ‘on its own’ in order to greet the intention and shape of the pose.

   I am constantly catching myself judging harshly that I am just being lazy. It was pointed out to me that my cerebral cortex is ready to take on more, but the rest of my mind/body is not. Most of me still needs rest, nurturing, restoration (which includes a vigorous yoga practice) and the chance to heal. And the healing process will take as long as it takes. I have no say, no control over it. This is hard for me, a typical type-A let’s get it done kind of person, to accept. So I continue to allow myself to be lured, bedazzled and to accept without thought the expectations and demands (illusions/delusions) of the cerebral cortex. Repeated reminders, by myself and others help me maintain my overall conviction that this slow, internal, space is the right place to be.