Finding Balance

When I think of what my yoga practice means to me the one word that comes to mind is balance.  Yoga empowers me, more than anything else I've found, to balance all aspects of myself and my life.

Balance is something I've been for striving towards for a very long time and only in the last few years have I finally started to grasp (although it is always a work in progress).  In fact, my first tattoo that I got when I was 18 included an infinity symbol which for me is a reminder to never stop seeking balance.

I've always consider myself to be a nature-friendly kinda person.  I enjoy the outdoors, love animals, am a recycling advocate, enjoy making all natural bath products and am quite spiritual in my beliefs.  My career, however, is a stark contrast to that.  I have a very technical, "plugged-in" job as an Instructional Technology teacher -and I love it.  I couldn't live with out my Smartphone or the Internet, in fact as I sit here writing this I realized I left my phone charger at work.  My battery will die soon and I will have to go the entire evening and morning without it!!!!  Ahhhhh!  So reconciling these two very different sides of myself has always been a struggle.  Sometimes I have felt more like a teeter totter than a cohesive individual.

My practice helps me find peace with myself on the good days, the bad days and everyday in between.  Its a way for me to challenge my body and my mind simultaneously.  In a lot of ways my practice has become an extension of me, something I can't live without.  I've found over the last few years that if I miss practice, or go a couple days without getting on my mat I feel it.  And not in the physical sense, or at least not only in the physical sense.  My mind misses it, my emotions become erratic and I struggle with focus.  It is my practice that helps me hone in on who I am as an individual, to embrace it and to find comfort where my passions overlap.