Too Much Yoga?

A long drive through the country the other day was the perfect breath of fresh air I’ve been needing for a long while now. Trees, rain, lakes, farms, cows and baby goats were delightful sensory inputs. Just like long hot showers, for me, car drives deliver the perfect opportunity to relax and Zen out. I was taking this gift of a drive for a contact-less Joint and Muscle Balm pickup. I had came across the maker of this fabulous ointment a couple years ago while on a Farm Tour. The special blend of cayenne, ginger, and cinnamon does this yoga teacher’s body good.

As the country side filtered my mind, a thought occurred to me: Is there such a thing as too much yoga? I’ve been teaching yoga and movement for the past 7 years. There’s been weeks here and there that I’ve probably clocked almost 30 hours of yoga teaching - not including my daily personal yoga practice. There’s been days where not only my muscles needed a balm but so did my psyche. Keep in mind that yoga is a processing practice - body, mind and Spirit! Yes yoga is a soothing balm on its own but yoga also roots out the pains in your body and heart. Yoga makes space for needed information to bubble up, pokes it’s head out of the rabbit hole and see the light. Repetitive injuries is a common concern for athletes and fitness coaches. What about repetitive internal processing for yoga instructors? As a lover of self-awareness and self-reflection, there are times that the inner work seems a bit too much and I need a break from processing my stuff. I have found myself needing to do mundane things like shopping for make-up, playing bubble poke on my phone or immersing myself in the making of a naughty second cup of coffee after hours of teaching yoga because I needed to turn off all the mental and spiritual inner processing I’ve done teaching yoga. Whew!

Could that old saying, too much of any good thing, is not good. . . also apply to the beautiful and powerful practice of yoga?

Be Well Y’all.

~RR