Practice Yoga

Practice yoga so you can remain active in physical sports as you age.

~ Lululemon

As time goes on here in Hanmer Springs, I find my mind to be continuously bogged down with what’s next. What’s the next big adventure? Where to go. What to do. All these question marks float around in my mind as I carry on going about my daily tasks of cleaning buildings, taking photographs, practicing for Robin Hood and writing a book about Te Araroa Trail. The only thing that is certain is that in about 1.5 months everything will come to a head and things will become clear on where I am to go from here. In the meantime I’ve found myself to be practicing a lot of yoga. Partly because it’s been quite cold to be outside running with my five fingers on. Partly because it’s been a really energizing way to start my day. But most of all, I’ve been doing it to clear my head of all the cobwebs.

When I go to work each day here at the camp, I find myself contemplating how much I enjoy working at such a place and how much I would like to go back to school to study community development so I can get more involved with projects such as this. When I take photographs of the camp for the website, I become inspired to pursue my art further with all the things I now want to create. When I head off to rehearsal twice a week I find that by the time I get back home I am thinking of all the reasons I wish I could stay longer in Hanmer Springs. When I get into writing my book about the adventure of Te Araroa Trail, I find myself entering a dream world of the many adventures I want to pursue in the future. The list never ends.

And so yoga has been there to keep me grounded. To keep me in the moment. The here and now. It not only strengthens my body, but my soul. It helps to focus my mind in clarity I otherwise would not have. I only hope that all the yoga I’m doing will benefit my athletic ability for when I get back into running. As brilliant as yoga is, it is nothing without running. Both sports go hand in hand and it feels wrong to do one without the other. But as the weather gets colder and colder, snow threatening to blanket the ground here at any moment – I can’t focus on that right now.

I find it funny to think that right now is probably the most unplanned I have been in my life. To look ahead and know that at the end of August there is a grey void of which I haven’t a clue what is to happen could be scary. But I am not scared. Whatever happens will happen. What is meant to be will be. Nothing more, nothing less. What I do know is that whatever it is that comes my way that gives direction on what is to come next will be big. It will be a life-changing moment, shaping my future to what it is meant to be.

And so yoga it is. Sun Salutations. Tree Pose. Downward Dog. Warrior. It doesn’t matter what it is – all that matters is that I continue doing it. Maybe it will open my mind to a new idea. Maybe it will strengthen my soul for what is yet to come. Maybe it will push my body to new heights. Maybe it will do nothing but give me self-satisfaction of doing something. All I know is that in my world of many maybe’s and not a lot of certainty, yoga is that one thing I can count on for my own time. Anywhere. Anytime. It is there for the taking and I love it.