7th series

Photo: Maja Brouwer

Currently I am on vacation. I am a dedicated yogi, so I try to keep up my six times a week Ashtanga practice. But I allow myself to sleep in. I start my practice whenever I wake up. So far so good.
Today when I was done with the standing poses my son walked in. He starts to talk about the weather. 
He also asks me when I will be finished. He asks that every day, even though he has seen me practicing a zillion times, and should know the sequence by heart, too. I pause to talk about the weather. It is indeed raining cats and dogs outside. My son lays down on the couch next to my mat and I continue my practice. While I hang in Bhujapidasana my daughter walks in. She makes me laugh. It is mid-August and she is wearing her wooliest sweater and her thickest socks. She gets down on my mat to give me a kiss. I smile and continue my practice. In Setu Bhandasana my dog walks in to sit right behind my head. She wants to go outside and tells me so by sitting there. No space for chakrasana. I pause to ask my son to take her out. I continue my practice. I mix up the three final seats. My daughter demands breakfast. 

This is how my practice looks like on most days. My family shows up on and around the mat eventually. Sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly. 

Of course I could find ways to practice without interruptions: Set the alarm to 5 am, lock the door, go a long way to a studio. But I love my home practice - and I love my kids and my dog. 

Sometimes in the Ashtanga Yoga world family is called the seventh and last one of the series. I agree. Family is the most challenging and advanced of the series. Practicing first or second series daily is already a commitment. Practising seventh series on top I often feel exhausted. But I don’t want to change a thing. That is my life that I love and I face it by practicing contentment and equanimity simultaneously.