downward dog

Another resting pose.  Today I rested from a formal yoga class.  It was President’s Day, a day that banks, post offices, and federal offices take off.   Yet I worked and worked, but lacked the energy for class.  And so I did a brief sun salutation series at home.  When I do this I get angry at myself that I didn’t make it a priority to attend class.   I feel like a lazy piece of shit, and I have nobody to blame but myself.   I like to think that I’m different, inspirational, motivational, and authentic.  But in reality sometimes I’m so tired from work I don’t feel like doing anything but watching tv. 

It’s the guilt that looms over me. But this is when I need yoga the most, especially after a long day’s work, where the Mundane Mondays overtake you.  And all you want to do is wait for the next day to begin.   I can’t help but reflect on how can I shift this? I breathe in, move my calves up and down, and I settle into downward dog.  I release the tension in my shoulders, disseminating the weight throughout my hands and feet.   I center myself in this upside down V pose.   When you struggle in balancing poses or strength building poses, you turn to this safety net of downward dog.

Generally if I attempt this yoga pose at home, my dogs think I am impersonating their pouncing stance.   My English bulldog will crawl under my legs and chest that are folded into an upward v and head straight to my face to lick it.  Doing yoga at home is sometimes impossible because my dogs think it’s playtime, and who can avoid the lure of doggie wrinkles and sad eyes?  But today as I did my several asanas, they did nothing but watch.  They must have seen the weight of my stress and allowed me to have my space and release myself into the poses.