Do you feel like you are in an eternal downward dog?

A week ago I began participating in a 30-day yoga challenge. Sometimes, the yoga is easy to follow and flows nicely. I like this stuff. It's predictable. There is comfort in knowing that if I don't like downward dog I get to move to a new position on my next breath.

However, practicing yoga also consists of holding all sorts of positions - plank, downward dog, warrior, mountain (my favorite), etc. It is during these moments that I think to myself, "Just tell me how many freaking counts or how many breaths I have to hold this for, and I won't get so angry or frustrated with myself. Or you, if I'm being honest."

It would be so much easier if I just knew when this discomfort would end.

But it doesn't work that way. You don't always know when the anxiety or depression will lift. You don't know when you'll meet the love of your life. There is so much you don't know.

In one way or another, it may feeling like you are in an eternal holding position. The yoga teacher has placed you in downward dog with no indication that you will leave that position anytime soon. But, she instructs you to breathe, and you embrace the aches in your shoulders and the stretch in your legs. Until she directs you onward.

If you feel like you have been in any sort of holding position in your life, I see you. I've been there. If you want an instructor to help you figure out how to breathe in place or guide you to the next position, reply to this e-mail - let's see if we can't get you breathing and back to that vinyasa flow.