Before the sun

Today - like many of my days - I am up before the sun and I love it!
I get myself ready, take care of Nala, and rush out the door to the yoga studio. I should get up a little bit earlier, so I do not have to rush - but sometimes that little extra 5 minutes of sleep is worth it! The thought of missing the 6:30am yoga class adds a little fuel to my fire - makes me move a little faster than I want to at 6 in the morning - but I make it to class.

Always tuning into my body - what it needs - how it should move - what my breath feels like within me and keeping my mind open to invite in challenge. Finding a place between ease and effort - being that place.
I was not at ease when I came into my practice - but in the midst of the stillness of morning - I created a truce with my body - with my mind - Present, available, and ready to breath through the challenge.
My knee has been shakey for the past few days...and yes today I felt the definite strain in my fragile joint. I set an intention of "gentle kindess" to my body. I flowed through the first few postures and realized (more than most days) I needed to follow my body as opposed to the teacher - the poor new teacher - who probably thought - now what exactly is this girl doing, as I totally deviated from her class!
Laying in Savasana I breathed deeply into my knee - exhaled - consciously released the tension and holding and softened my body. Relief. But now to the wall. Inverting my legs to allow the blood to flow away from my tender knee - and giving my legs/knee a soft massage. It was here when I started to massage the knee that I realized it was actually a pulled muscle - one of the lateral stablizer muslces. For the remaining time in the class I stayed here - legs up the wall - massaging and breathing - staying prsesent and tuning into gentleness within.

Translating the stillness of morning into the stillness of mind and body I was able to relax my strained knee. Today's practice was exactly what it needed to be. It always is.

Awake, alert, alive, prepared, present; I practice.