Yoga in the Garden

"Wanting a slower pace does not mean you are lazy.

It means that you want to enjoy life,

and not rush through it.”

~Lori Deschene

With the recent warm days, I have felt the irresistible pull to work in the garden, to clean up the slumbering beds and make ready for planting… many rush to put stuff in “now that it is warming up”… after all it was 80 degrees just yesterday… but today as I write, it is blustery and very cold with snow flurries in the air and folks are worried about the low temperatures and all the stuff that they rushed to get planted.

I find that pacing myself is especially important each coming Spring, to plant only what can actually bear the variable weather at this time of year… I want to relish the excitement of the coming summer garden but not push my body too far/too fast after a more sedentary winter… so I am consciously pacing myself, moving slowly, taking breaks, reflecting on progress and simply allowing myself to enjoy the process in manageable pieces.

And as I write this, I realize that this slow mindful approach to gardening and my life, is a gift from my yoga practice. The Kaiut Yoga Method, that I teach and practice daily, is a system of yoga that values function over aesthetic. It asks us to slow down, it asks us “how does it feel” NOT “how does it look.”  We move slowly to allow the body to express itself, to make itself known without judgement and to enable the time and space for the brain to integrate the information that the body offers us during practice. I find that this approach, this conscious pacing and reflection, both on the mat and off the mat, brings ease and calm to everything I do.

I am deeply grateful for the wisdom that comes with this practice.