I started yoga to prevent running injuries but found that I loved it, maybe even a bit more than running, for the meditative portions that restore good mental health along with providing me greater core strength, flexibility and balance.
At the end of the class one of my favorite teachers (who is a psychologist in her daytime job) likes to remind us that our thoughts, which each of us has about 50,000 of each day, are merely neuro-biological events.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of our thoughts are negative.
Self-critical, judgmental or worries about things that may never happen.
She encourages us to imagine our thoughts flowing past us on a river and clinging to none of them.
Then, as an advanced technique to help us really clear our mind she asks us to envision a black rectangular piece of construction paper. This is meant to clear our minds of all distractions and relax and restore our minds...but...every time she does this, every time I visualize that black construction paper I start to see little white stars (in white chalk) and they are beautiful, childlike and happy.
I might be failing at the visualization - but my version leaves me with a smile and a lightness in my step as I leave the yoga studio.
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