Morning motivation!

I was doing my practise this weekend. Cold Saturday morning. I wanted to start off with Adho Mukha Vrikasana aka handstand. One leg hit the wall but there was no way the other leg was following it up. All my body wanted to do was curl up with a hot coffee. That’s really not like me because I’m generally always on the run and super eager to get my practice going.

Which of course got me thinking. It’s something about winter mornings when we’re cold and scrunched over. The minute the back is even slightly bent the mind goes into a ‘give-up’ attitude. Moreover, half the world is sniffing and the other half coughing.

So, I started working my way up. Just stretching in sukhasana or cross legged I could feel myself releasing the tension in my abdomen, lengthening my back, working the gluteal and hip muscles. With the newly gained warmth I was ready to get to my limbs; stretch the hamstrings and the quadriceps. The funny thing was after that little bit of core work I was completely ready for all my balancing poses – standing, inversions, arm balances.

We think of winter as ideal for restorative poses and yes, the body does need them when it’s weak and down. But this week my students are going to tackle half moon and warrior 3. Yes, we’ll use the wall. We may even use a brick or two.

But no way will we let winter get us down!