the yoga sabbath

I'm not much of a rule following afficionado type. It seems in particular that ashtanga has a whole bunch of do's and don'ts that are more likely to make me roll my eyes than stand to attention.

For example, the chanting thing has yet to be presented with a cogent argument to convince me.
Then there's the lunar calendar's influence on how one practises. I think officially you're not supposed to practise on the "moon days" - full and new. As well as that there's the saturday yoga sabbath - the yogis' day off.

From the start of the mesore/ Mysore journey 9 months ago I've been getting more and more fascinated, more and more committed and more and more enthusiastic. I've reached a point over the past couple of months where my practice has ramped up to such a degree that the idea of "days off" has become anathema to me. and the idea of taking it easy in the phase of the new moon has just been ignored outright.

In the past weeks my commitment has certainly borne fruit - i have changed my use of the mat and begun in earnest to work on the jump-throughs. I have been toying with techniques to approach self sufficiency in the supta kurmasana cycle (to not need teacher to place my legs in position). This has been an exciting time and everyday i cannot wait to get underway. But the extra effort it takes for my body to learn these new things has taken its toll - exhaustion!

On three nights this week i have gone to bed at 830pm. I am an early sleeper, but 830 seems early even to me. I just couldnt keep my eyes open. On Thursday finding myself unable to continue after marichyasana D, i decided that i really needed a day off where i really did no yoga or no exercise of any description.

I have become a victim of my own enthusiasm.

After restarting my yoga practice humbly almost a year ago, I saw the degree to which my body had declined and I was humble and patient with what I had to work with. As things have improved i see that i have become increasingly passionate but increasingly impatient. What's my hurry?

Once again my body has spoken when i have tried to impose my schedule on it. This again makes me feel humbled and draws me to to this idea of scheduled rest - a yoga sabbath. After the events of this week, I am going to take heed of ashtanga wisdom and begin imposing a sabbath on myself. I have a class that i attend on a saturday, so i really have no intention for the foreseeable future of taking saturday off, but perhaps friday.

In general rules exist for a reason. I'm not particularly interested in following something because someone says so, but as in life, experience brings you to understanding and acceptance of the whys.

This has been a hard week and the burn out has made me feel a little down. but i'm grateful to have been reminded of the importance of moderation and to finally understand the signposts that ashtanga wisdom was already waving in front of me.

I imagine many more such experiences await me and i'm excited to see it all unfold.