Day 10 of 40 day challenge

So The toughest part of a 40-day challenge.  The challenge, for me, is staying present to being in a challenge!  I forget!  Then I remember there is a group of people in this with me.  The past few days my challenge has been to stay in this game I have created to play - my life.

There are days, yes even for a yoga teacher/studio owner, where I feel like just hiding at home in bed.  I get overwhelmed by all of the many tasks that I am supposed to do.  My mind gives me multiple lists, I imagine that I must be missing something and that the house of cards called my life will come tumbling down if I miss that one thing!

Then it passes.  In the next moment, the next breath, I pay attention to NOW.  Right now, nothing is wrong!  There is no major disaster happening, the world is peaceful outside of my screened door, I can hear the birds singing!  Beyond those birds, I hear the traffic on the highway.  People driving to work or to vacation (it is Friday) and once again my mind tries to break free to think about all of the energy wasted, the noise, the pollution.  Once again, I rein in the mind and re-direct the thoughts...People will never stop moving!  It's so funny - we will keep traveling and keep seeking a way to do that and we all do care deeply about our planet.
Some of us just are not aware of that at the moment.

So do you see the mind-game?  The mind will not stop thinking.  The discipline of yoga is to keep reining it in, to keep bringing the attention back to the present moment.  To gain control over the monkey mind.  Which, by the way, is an impossible task.  So I practice ignoring my thoughts, re-directing my thoughts, and laughing at my thoughts.  It can be amusing you know - OH!  There's THAT ONE AGAIN! Ha ha ha ha haaaaahhh!

Keep it up - the practice of yoga.  Asana, pranayama, the yamas and niyamas, meditation, keep practicing.