The need for self care during the pandemic and About me
Welcome to the first Sassy Yoga blog. Thanks for dropping in!
As you're aware, we're in the middle of a pandemic, and things, both close to home and internationally, are challenging.
In this blog, I will tell you a little bit about myself and how Yoga has helped me personally throughout my life. Especially during times of crisis.
At the age of 24 I went to my first yoga class. I had just returned from living abroad for a year. I had left Melbourne to travel after coming out of a long term relationship, which was heading down the path of marriage. I had decided that there was still so much I still wanted to do in life before I settled down. I also wanted to ‘find myself’. Little did I know that this would be a lifelong process. So I changed the course of my life and went travelling.
Having returned back to Melbourne a little more ‘grown up’ than when I left, the world became mine to explore and I did not want to leave any stone upturned. I attended my first yoga class in 1993 in St.Kilda at 6.30pm on a Wednesday night upstairs at the Linden art gallery and unbeknownst to me, yoga would become a staple in my life from that point on.
Time rolled on. I had many wonderful jobs and some not so good. I got married and had two children. I got divorced. Life certainly didn’t go down the path I envisaged. Throughout life’s ups and downs, there was one constant. I went to yoga class. It was the one thing that guaranteed at least one hour of peace for me in my week.
I had many life crisis, but perhaps no more or less than others. Everyone’s reality is their own and it never helped me to compare the fragile human emotion of pain. Everyone’s pain is their own and real. What I have learnt is that yoga practice, for me, over time, helped me develop a closer and healthier relationship with my body. It helped regulate and calm my emotions. In focusing on the physical aspect of alignment within the asana, it helped calm my mind. It helped me become a calmer mother, a more sensitive friend and a better person.
Right now, we find ourselves in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic. We don’t know how long our restrictions will last for, or if we will ever return to life as we knew it. I urge you to do only one thing if nothing else. Take a moment to stay calm. Take a moment to regroup. Take a moment to recharge. Find your soothing balm. You cannot save others unless you put on your own life jacket and oxygen mask on first. Find ‘your yoga’.
Imagine that your body and spirit is a bank account. Imagine that your self care is the interest you are accumulating. A little bit of time taken out of your day for yourself, especially during these challenging times, will pay you the highest interest rate, unavailable elsewhere. Take the time to self care and invest in yourself.
Hari Om
Susie
