“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.” ~ Simone Weil
(This is me in the beautiful gardens at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC in the Spring of 2013)
Have you ever noticed how BUSY things tend to get once the Spring season hits? I don’t know about you, but between Spring Break, all the end-of-the-year school events for my daughters, getting the yard prepped for summer, getting in time for yoga, and then trying to find time to enjoy the beautiful weather…well, it’s HARD! And if I don’t watch myself, it brings on super amounts of stress. Isn’t this supposed to be the time of year where we should be having fun, enjoying life and all that nature has to offer?
Well, this Spring, I plan on really sticking to my guns about keeping my stress levels in check and enjoying my friends and family. My goal is to make it through my older daughter’s high school graduation, my younger daughter’s elementary school graduation, a business trip and several other things without losing my cool and jeopardizing my health. Oh, and by the way, I plan on having FUN through all of this…going on the lake with my family, walking the trails of our Greenway, making the time for MY yoga practice. Yep, that’s what I’m gonna do.
Because Spring can be so busy for so many people, it’s a good idea to balance its energy by incorporating lots of grounding poses into your yoga practice, spending lots of time focusing on the feet and making sure your foundation is solid. Poses like Mountain, Warrior 2, Tree, Bridge, Grounded Warrior 3, and many others are wonderful poses to weave in.
We’ll be focusing on this grounding theme throughout the month of May. This week, we’ll be paying particular attention to the feet. The feet are the start of a proper foundation, so what better place to begin? It’s important to have proper alignment and balance in the feet because this affects the joints above (ankles, knees and hips) and all the associated muscles.
Mountain Pose is the perfect place to dig in and start figuring out the tendencies of our feet. For example, are you someone whose feet over-supinate (placing more weight on the outer edges of your feet) or over-pronate (placing more weight on the inside edges of your feet)? We will play with the extremes of each, and then work towards finding the balance between the two.
When our foundation is solid and stable, we are more likely to find the strength and the spirit to accomplish something meaningful, both on and off the mat.
Namaste,
Melanie
SC Yoga Girl 