We began our March-April ‘Spring Cleaning for the Body & Mind’ session here at The Yoga Room this week. Our physical practice focused on purifying in the form of building up our immune systems to help cleanse our body of germs and toxins. We emphasized backbending postures that would open up our lungs and help our respiratory system, as well as forward bending and inverted postures that allowed the focus to be on our sinuses, easing congestion there.
But before we even began our asana practice, I asked each student to think of one thing that they would like to cleanse or purify themselves of, or let go of, during this 8-week session. Some examples I offered up were:
–A food cleanse of some sort (giving up sweets, bread, meat or alcohol for example)
–Letting go of a bad habit
–Letting go of negative thoughts (worries, judgments, self-deprecation)
–Maybe there’s a person you need to cleanse from your life
–TV/Internet/Facebook/Smartphone (cutting back if you can’t cut it out completely)
–Clutter (getting rid of ‘stuff’ in your closets, garage, office, etc.)
–Schedule (can you purge some things from your weekly schedule that you don’t really have to do?)
I told my students that I would remind them each week to think about what they chose to cleanse themselves of during this 8 week session, so they can check in and see how they’re doing. And I reminded them that we don’t let go of anything as a way to deprive ourselves or sacrifice anything, but as a way to liberate ourselves.
So join us in our Spring Cleaning Challenge! What are you going to let go of this spring?