Same Yoga. Every. Day.
I have been doing the same yoga sequence almost every day for a year. Beginning to end, the same thing. Over and over again.
Vinyasa gentle flow, power Yoga, Yin and Yang, Ashtanga, you probably heard those terms before? It is all the same, just Yoga. Why over-complicate something simple? We’re not here to reinvent the wheel the Masters have perfected already for millenniums.
So yes, the same one to two hour Yoga sequence: One hour of breathing (Pranayama). One hour of postures (Asanas). 12 to be exact. But why?
We live in such a fast-paced ever-changing world. So many stimuli. All. The. Time. I think the most difficult, but oh so rewarding thing now is to find and stick to a routine. Like our grandparents used to do; The same journal in the morning. The same walk. The same ritual.
Allowing boredom is quite the rebellious act in our times. It provides for so much more space to notice the subtilities; Of how you felt yesterday in the right hip and how you do today. How you feel in your heart or in your head over time. How you used to be able to do that one posture, but now it is a bit more difficult. The regression and progression.
It becomes an active meditation. The mind will resist it at first, and when it gives in, it will be like coming home. Your body enters through a dance it already knows, and deeper places in yourself can be accessed. You are not exposing yourself to new things your body is analyzing or reacting to. Coming back to the same thing, familiarity, our mind and body craves.
Focus and concentration are rarities now. So I urge you to try to beat your mind that searches for novelty, noise, and dopamine. To come back to boring. Routine.
To be truly good at something, I think we need to master the details first, instead of always looking for something new or the next best and trendy thing. A lot of people think Yoga is easy or boring. I looove me some fixed sequence. Try the Ashtanga primary series or the Sivananda sequence and let me know.
Less will always be more.