I don’t travel a whole heck of a lot, but the last few years I’ve been traveling more than typical. In fact the last week and a half I spent a lot of time in a car, on shuttles, trains, planes, a bus or two, and in the backseat of a few rideshares.
Traveling like this means I’m around a lot of PEOPLE. Now – it has been trendy the last several years for people to talk about how they don’t like people. Well, I like people the normal amount. I don’t really have a problem with people. But it has to be said, I’m not used to *crowds*. And by traveling, I was in a lot of crowds.
Amidst all this traveling I also had a pretty important (in my career anyway) presentation to deliver at a national conference. Between that, and the crowds, being away from my home and kitty cats, not to mention the wonderful Pacific Northwest… well let’s just say, it was a lot!
Once we got back from the conference, we just had a day to kind of settle in and then we were back on the road again – to round up family for my daughter’s birthday. The happiest of reasons to travel but it was still – more travel.
I want to point out that I did not get sick, I did not get fatigued, I did not get aches and pains – and I slept very well, through all of this.
In fact considering the wear-and-tear physically, mentally, and emotionally I am doing very well. Which is great – because I had to get right back into my grad studies, as in immediately, the moment we got back home.
I absolutely know that my sleep, my good health, and my generally low reactivity is due in large part to my yoga and meditation practices.
Now, please don’t think I’m *prescribing* yoga to anyone in particular. On the contrary, I’m testifying. I’m not saying YOU will get every benefit I have. But I will say that if you do make this time and apply yourself consistently, you are very likely to start receiving benefits.
I am not a natural proselytizer and I’m certainly not doing that here.
But think about this from my perspective.
I have tried so many things – medications (prescribed and not-so-prescribed), I’ve tried alcohol (coming up on 14 years’ sobriety next month!), I’ve tried shopping, group therapy, individual counseling, talk therapy – I’ve tried all those things to help myself get more mental resilience, to be stronger and happier.
And none of those things are in themselves bad.
But yoga and meditation are, to put it bluntly – FREE. In a world that’s being choked out by consumer capitalism, can we get an AMEN that there are resources available to us – no matter what?
Yes, like most good things – it takes time to see benefits. ONE night of meditation or ONE yoga class isn’t likely to provide profound, lasting impact.
But part of my practices are reclaiming my time. It helps me feel powerful to carve out this space. Every single night when I meditate, it is just ___ minutes. No one can take this from me – except me.
I can do this. And I choose to do this!
The more days in a row I get making time to meditate and to practice yoga, the more strong self-concept I get. It’s the kind of thing money can’t buy. No one can give it to me – I have to choose this, myself.
I’ve been meditating a white now – long enough to see benefits. Meditation has increased my mental facilities, my mental resilience and strength, and has done wonders for my sleep. Meditating has allowed me to sleep without self-medicating, and to sleep well. I do sometimes feel anxiety at night, and on the third night at that conference last week I had trouble falling asleep – it was the night before my presentation. But I still found several quality hours of sleep and I put that down to my meditation regimen.
I am of course, also physically stronger (come to my Wednesday class and see if you can keep up!) and my body feels so much better than it did before I practiced yoga. In that way I have you to thank, if you’ve come to class. Now that we have yoga classes in the space, I practice more often, more faithfully, and with more intention.
If you believe in yoga like I do – please sign up for a class. If you come to class, WE get to keep Little Switch open for the community.