Did I forget to put my clothes in the dryer again? … I need to clean my car… Crap, I didn’t pick up pet food! … I really should make my bed sometime this summer....Woah, I let my toenail polish get this bad? … Are you CRAZY! You are in a room that is 109 stretching your body in ways you've never done before! RUN!!!!
Well day ten was the day for my monkey mind and me to have a nice little tug-of-war. When I walked into the studio I had one goal in mind. Do NOT take a pose out. Attempt every posture. Even if you fall out or get tired, keep going! Get right back into the posture and try. Now in a hot room, after ten days straight, and feeling oh so tired, this probably wasn't the best day to make this challenge, but I'm stubborn. I was going to do it! And this is when my monkey mind and I started our conversation.
Basically, she kept telling me things like, "You are thirsty." "You've been doing this for 10 freakin' days. You deserve to take a knee." And believe me she is a noisy little bitch!
I really did try to not listen to her, but I had this epiphany. Many of the teachers during practice will tell us to "love our body". That our body LOVES us for what we are doing. So instead of letting my monkey mind take control, I began to let my body know that I appreciated the persistence. Now I know some of you reading this may feel like I have lost my mind. I promise, I'm ok. No, I'm better than ok. I took a deep breath! I'm talking a REALLY deep breath! As the air left my body, I literally felt the calmness quiet the monkey.
At the end of 90 minutes, I was able to attempt every pose. And just to let the monkey mind know we were still friends, she and I shared a fruit bar, and life was good!
