My foot was communicating fiercely that it was sound asleep. My brain was warning adamantly that my foot might fall off. My heart kept offering, "But what if you stayed for just a few more breaths?" This last weekend I spent time exploring the retreat center that Rachel Sizemore, Anne Talhelm and myself will be co-leading a retreat to Crestone, CO this coming fall, September 14-18, 2016. Crestone is only 3.5 hours from our little Lakewood, CO yoga studio! The retreat center is actually a Zen Monastery that is open to the community for retreats. Every morning and every evening they have 1.5-2 hours of meditation in the Zendo, a beautiful building on the campus only used for the purpose meditation and darma talks. We decided to accept the invitation to join in the Friday evening 40 minute Zazen (sitting meditation), 10 minute Kinhin (walking meditation) followed by one more 30 minute Zazen (sitting meditation). About 15 minutes into the first seated meditation my foot fell soundly asleep. As I stated at the beginning of the post, rather than adjusting my posture to get blood flow back to my foot I challenged the temptation with, "What if you just stayed a few more breaths?" The discomfort would subside as my thoughts agreed to settle back into stillness for a few moments. Then again, the foot would complain followed by, "What if you just stayed a few more breaths?" It was a really interesting to watch my mind and body interacting in this relatively chill but contrasting way. About 15 minutes into the first seated meditation my foot fell soundly asleep. As I stated at the beginning of the post, rather than adjusting my posture to get blood flow back to my foot I challenged the temptation with, "What if you just stayed a few more breaths?" The discomfort would subside as my thoughts agreed to settle back into stillness for a few moments. Then again, the foot would complain followed by, "What if you just stayed a few more breaths?" It was a really interesting to watch my mind and body interacting in this relatively chill but contrasting way. Finally, I gave into the foot's desire to be moved and very slowly and quietly adjusted my sitting position as to not disturb the people on either side of me. And guess what happened next?!?! The gong was hit to announce that Zazen was over! And that's when this Lakwood yoga studio owner giggled to herself, "I totally could've just stayed for a few more breaths!" How many times am I going to relearn that breakthrough is waiting for you on the other side of uncomfortable. The challenge is not knowing how far on the other side...That's when you take two more breaths...then two more breaths... If you would like to know more about our Lakewood, CO yoga studio's retreats- join the mailing list here. The bonus is you will get access to some yoga videos you can do anyhwere! Here are more photos from our weekend prepping for the fall retreat!...thoughts from Container Collective Yoga studio owner, Brittany Hopkins, in Lakewood, CO.
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