Spring Training--It's Not about Yoga, It's About LIFE and How Good You Are Willing to Become

It’s not about [fill in the blank], it’s about LIFE and how good you are willing to become.

Back in the day, this is what the captain of our swim team said to motivate us.  He would alter the  [fill in the blank] to suit his needs--swimming, football, algebra, eating hot dogs, etc. Seemed fitting to co-opt this saying  considering this weekend is SPRING TRAINING! Saturday March 10^th 2-4 at Hudson River Yoga, Poughkeepsie.

In baseball, the teams have reported for spring training.  This is a time to return to the fundamentals, build endurance, and become a team again after an extended break.  If you’ve played any sports, think about how much time you spent training versus the amount of time the “Big Game” takes. Our HS swim team trained 3 hours a day, 6 days a week.  The longest event anyone swam was over in under 6 minutes, many were finished in under 1 ½ minutes (even for slow, leaden anchors like me).  18 hours of practice for 2 minutes of production.  99.8% of the time was pratice,.19% was production. 

The practice of yoga is the complete opposite of this.  I practice about 1 ½ hours per day, 6 days a week, for a total of 9 hours on my mat and cushion per week.  The “Big Game” is life.  That 9 hours of practice has to sustain the other 159 hours of the week.  About 5% practice, 95% production.

We’ve got to make our practice time count, so I bring you Spring Training.  For this session, I’m going back to my fundamentals, the practice that instilled the discipline, strength and endurance which allows me to do my current practice: The Ashtanga Vinyasa system. 

The practice will be inspired by this system (I will never nor have I ever claimed to teach Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.  The only people who are allowed to say this are listed on  www.kpjayi.com). 

We will use movement to cleanse the body, the breath to purify the nervous system, and the focus of the gaze to purify the mind.  Basically we will be moving and breathing with purpose, and doing a lot of both.

The best thing about this system is that it encourages the student to practice on their own.  We will come together to practice as a group, and you will have the tools to continue to practice until the next group session.

I invite you to come jump around with me.  Everyone is welcomed equally.  This is a great jump start to begin or renew your yoga practice, and it will knock off that rust (and cookies, my word the cookies!) that accumulated over the winter so you will be ready to run, bike, swim, play baseball, etc. this Spring and Summer.

See you on the mat!