Hot holiday yoga

Yoga on holiday — sometimes a challenge, but always a pleasure. A bit like yoga at home, now that I’ve put it that way! Yet holiday yoga always feels different. Why is that?

• Is it the warmth? Hmm, maybe, but my usual studio is far from cool, nor is my home on home practice days.
• It’s certainly not the optimal conditions of a perfect spot, acres of time, and solitude. Holiday yoga is often crammed into a random space that makes home (a modest apartment) feel positively luxurious.
• By the same token it’s not the regularity of the time of day or choosing when I really want to practice. Holiday yoga is squeezed between the activities and needs of others that somehow can, ironically, put time at a premium on holiday.

I think it’s just the holiday vibe. For me that’s the letting go of regular concerns, responsibilities, and daily chores. The heat helps for sure, or rather the sunshine. I feel looser limbed, more creative, less attached. My asana practice reflects this.

Today holiday practice was on a shady balcony. A beautiful hour of flowing asana, just moving through poses, rarely lingering anywhere for long. On the move, but going nowhere. My mind was in my body; my breath and my muscles took over. My brain had a rest from calling the shots. I let go of caring about any of the rules. Mixing open hip and closed hip poses? Who cares, whatever feels good! Taking care to include something from each group of poses? And in a logical sequence? Heh, it probably just happened anyway! The body knows how to balance itself out if you listen to it. A peak pose? Nope, probably not. I didn’t want one or need one.

My mum watched me the whole time. Scrutinised maybe. I closed my eyes a lot or at least I softened my focus and was mostly unaware of her. I was doing my thing. She was doing her thing: being a mum, watching over me, admiring me, loving me. She told me afterwards it made her cry.

“Oh, Mum, why did you cry, you silly?”

“Because I thought about how many years I’ve loved you, I saw your forehead and thought of all the times I’ve kissed it and caressed it. And you looked so vulnerable lying there. It just brought tears to my eyes.”

The first time my yoga has made someone else cry!