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I've spent a great deal of time being disenchanted with yoga to the point I've simply not been going to classes. Very rarely have I been keeping up with my home practice; I've simply let it slide.

The amount of stress I've felt pulse through my body in the last eight weeks or so has been overwhelming to the point it's disrupted a great deal of what I've enjoyed in life: lots of interesting things to challenge my mind, body and spirit, a healthy work life and good social relationships. All have suffered over the last few weeks.

In fact, around about the time I arrived home from Quebec in June, a great number of the external things that contribute to making my life beautiful have seemingly dissipated.

In the last week I've rekindled some of that which is an expression of my happiness: I'm back at the pottery studio two weeks and some now, and yesterday marked my first official day back to the yoga studio. One of my favourite instructors, Pat, is still teaching there and they now offer a 50-minute lunch-hour session that runs Monday through Thursday.

I signed up.

I went.

I enjoyed... very, very much.

A little less than an hour of yoga seems to be just the thing for me. The 90-minute sessions were great, but not something I felt I could do 4-5 times a week. Attempting that back in November last year proved only to frustrate me and talk me out of continuous yoga.

Today's session was called "Lunch Flow", which I thought was absolutely hilarious! Pat greeted me this afternoon with a very sincere, "Welcome home, brother." I truly felt 'at home'.

Making our way through the Primary series Ashtanga, I discovered how out-of-shape I've become, and how important it is to continue my yoga practice. Very quickly my body picked it up and by the end of today's session (having also attended yesterday with a different instructor) I felt much less tense, in fact almost completely relaxed.

Following the class, I greeted Pat and assured him that I would return.

My self-awareness has increased dramatically over the last few years and I've noticed that I, personally, get far more forward motion out of doing "a little a lot" rather than "a lot, a little". The thought of going to the studio four times in a week for only 50 minutes excites me to the point I want to jump right in and do it!

Tonight was pottery night too. It's been rather cold here and for a fleeting moment I felt like staying home. I knew that if I skipped pottery I would end up only sitting around the house, so I went. Not only was it social, it was also good therapy.

What a decadent day... two things I absolutely love to do, and I got to do them both.

For many reasons I am blessed, but these two - pottery and yoga - seem to be things I crave for my own well-being.

Namaste,

Peace.