originally written April 2015

I have been devoted to practicing Pranayama five days a week for almost two years which was inspired when one session got rid of a chronic back pain that I had for three weeks that nothing else could touch.

From continued practice I also found that my mind, my emotions and my body felt stronger and more stable. My upper body flexibility increased from focused, steady, persistent practice.

All that took a hit from recent surgery that made it almost impossible for me to sit for any length of time in a chair.  Forget about classic lotus or cross-legged on the floor. I’m talking about “sitting” in a chair.  I tried it one time after one week post op and I paid for it for the rest of the evening.  Since then, I have learned to shorten my sessions from one hour to 1/2 hour.  And honestly, It will take a lot of focus to return to my daily discipline of practice. 

Enjoying my garden, moving and being in slow motion, the spring has brought out the wall of small pink roses that manage to splurge for about one week with sweet color and their sweet scent.

Walking past them the other morning I stood right in front and took a whiff.  Then I took a deeper whiff. Then I stood in the pose of Poise Tadasana and began to BREATHE. I mean take a breath the way I knew I could. I thought for a moment, “well, here it is, this is pranayama”

No, not the formal, classical version, but a daily pranayama practice that makes breathing deeply the normal optimum way to experience beauty around me.  Isn’t that why I do Asana?  To feel better?  To move better?  Not to stay 24/7 in a yoga pose and forget all else, but to make all else better.  And when one door closes (or seems to) another door opens. The door of Pranayama opens me up to the sweet scent of spring’s gifts and the beauty that it offers. One door opens to another. One is not more important than the other. From sitting on the floor for an hour, to standing up able to walk around and to stop and smell the roses.