Rest to Cultivate Growth

As yogis we practice hopefully everyday. Except when we are resting. There should be some off-days scheduled in there somewhere. I took about a 2 month long rest in the fall. Some of it intentional, most of it not. Everyone has these little periods where we don't practice. Sometimes they're a couple days sometimes they're months long. During that time - I always worry that when I get back to the mat I'm going to be completely incapable. Not that it matters, but it's going to be uncomfortable. There's a little piece of me that whines when I'm in down dog for the first time after a week or more without it. That little piece whines about everything.

That's the inertia speaking. The longer something sits the harder it is to get it going again. This applies to anything. Objects, relationships, yoga practices, attitudes, good habits - Anything.

So when I came back to my practice I feared I had lost some strength because muscles are all about "use it or lose it". Turns out I lost a little but it was regained so quickly to be not worth mentioning. My build had grown only slightly softer.With that very mild softening though - came an ease in how I carry myself that's hard to describe.

Everything feels a little simpler and I have made a dozen breakthroughs. Both in physical and subtle practices. I guess our inner self and our outer practices can be like muscles. Muscles don't grow while you're lifting heavy things. Muscles grow later in the dark while they're being rested. Quietly sowing the seeds planted during the hard work.

So by all means - plant your seeds, do the work - but don't forget to provide the rest your system needs to really flourish.