Novel Yoga

December 31, 2011

What is your "one word"? One word for this year, one word for next year.

Me

This was one of the first prompts from last year's Reverb project.  I never wrote that post, but I have been using "yoga" as my word for this year.  I have used the word to be a touchstone this year, as my mantra when I needed to calm myself.  I don't know what others experiences with one word for was, but for me it was incredibly powerful.

I chose yoga because I wanted to ensure, or rather force myself, into taking at least one yoga class for the year and I wanted to bring that practice home with me.  I was successful on both those ventures. I also wanted to encourage myself to be more "mindful."  I took a Mindfulness class several years ago and wanted to bring that practice more to the forefront of my life.

Mindfulness is being aware of yourself and your actions.  It's a practice of doing things with intent.  It is not  moving from the couch only to realize the can of Salt and Vinegar Pringles, the pint of Cherry Garcia, and half a pan of brownies have disappeared without a trace after watching umpteen straight episodes of <insert television series here> and having no idea if it is day or night.  It is having a scoop of Cherry Garcia and savoring it while doing nothing else.  Mindfulness is accepting your limitations and taking action to stretch them.  It is accepting that the body hurts and then moving on.  Mindfulness does not dwell on the negative; it acknowledges them then moves on to savor the good things.

To me (and many others) mindfulness and yoga go hand in hand.  For the curious, the book I first used was Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

For 2012, my word is "novel".  I will edit my novel.  I will bring more novelty into my life.  I will try novel (and mundane) new foods.  I will pursue novel activities and read novels outside my comfort zone. I will use the idea of novel experiences to say "yes" to more offerings and to be more creative myself. And I will do this all with intent.  The yoga isn't going anywhere.