Yoga practice dedication

When I first started running, I loved how my lungs, heart, and legs got stronger. And bonus, over time, my butt shrank in size after all those years of sitting at a desk. I soon got into the running groove and felt all-over healthier. Then I added yoga to the mix. Arms, core, and back were being attended to as well as balance. Wow, now there was the complete package!

But wait, there was one more area that developed and it has perhaps become the best part of all. The combination of both running and yoga has both settled and expanded my mind. Doing one or both of these activities with friends really helps with motivation and I am very grateful to have friends who love to run and practice yoga. I have also found the mental strength to easily do these by myself, i.e. get out of bed, get the shoes on, and get out the door, and that is a good thing. When you know how good you will feel after running or yoga (or any other physical activity) you are more likely to do it without excuses.

Yoga offers lots of opportunity for mindfulness, other than flat-on-your-back meditation during Shavasana (corpse pose). Often at the beginning of a yoga class, the instructor suggests we find an intension for our practice. At first I did not quite know what that meant, other than saying something to myself like, “I intend to do every pose the instructor guides me through” or “I will do my best not to fart in class today.” It wasn’t until one instructor suggested that if we could not think of an intension, we could dedicate our practice to world peace. That worked for me.

After that, I begun to think about this whole intension thing a bit more. I began dedicating my practice to friends who were ill or super stressed or even to areas of the world under duress (hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, wars, etc.). Sending out good vibes into the world and specifically towards a loved one, while I twisted and stretched my body (and was grateful to be able to do so), seemed to work its magic in some small way.

So in the spirit of projecting positive thoughts to someone in need, I dedicated today’s practice to Sebastian an adorable Jack Russell Terrier. (Although I have 2 cats and consider myself a cat person, I love Jack Russell dogs… They are a marvellous combination of muscle and playfulness in one tough little package.) Sebastian lives with my friend Tim in Toronto. Here’s a photo of Sebastian from Tim’s Facebook page (photo credit to Tim, without asking):

Tim has been posting photos of Sebastian on Facebook ever since they came together a few years ago, but recently the number of photos and videos went up remarkably. Here’s what happened to Sebastian to warrant so much attention (from Tim’s Facebook post on Nov 6 and included with a video of Sebastian doing water therapy):

He jumped off a second story deck, over the railing! Landed badly, to say the least. Contusion of the spinal cord. Couldn’t move his legs for the first day. Was very worried. Things are looking better now!

Since then Sebastian has done all sorts of therapy, including going to the country and running (as best he could) in a field with other dogs and is looking much better. What’s not to like about fresh country air for healing the body and the soul?

To demonstrate my dogged attention to Sebastion, I offer up these therapeutic photos from today’s yoga class (taken by Stephanie Green, owner of OmTown Yoga in Nanaimo, BC):

I’m sending these out to Tim and Sebastian and wishing Sebastian a full recovery so he can run with the wind in his ears and meditate on how to best lie in the warm sun. Just like I do to for complete physical and mental well being!