Yesterday I completed a 30-day yoga challenge –  one yoga class every day for 30 consecutive days. And it was a challenge… just to get myself to the yoga studio some days! But I’m glad I did it. The practise of yoga is not only good for physical well-being, but mental and emotional well-being too. There would be days I’d arrive ‘on the mat’ feeling frazzled or out of sorts but by the time the class was over I’d be feeling blissful once again.

Breathe…..

My yoga teacher looked uncharacteristically rattled as she settled herself onto her mat.

“I’ve learned a lot in these past few days,” she said. “It’s not what life presents to us, it’s how we react to it, how we move through it.” She sat quietly for a moment, preparing herself for the practise, and then she looked up and said, “How many of you wish there was a pause button for life?”

Thirty hands shot up, and there was laughter as we all recognized exactly what she was trying to say.

Later on, after some vigorous yoga, we moved into a child’s pose, which is a resting pose. “This is the pause button in yoga,” she said.

That started me thinking… I’ve recently read that introverts are people who need down time to recharge their batteries for the next ’round’ of life, as opposed to extroverts, who regain their energy through stimulating activities. Identifying as an introvert based on this definition, I love the idea of the ‘pause button’. We each have to find our own personal ways to ‘pause’ our lives. I suspect meditation is a form of ‘pausing’ for people who practise it. Restorative yoga works for me, as does reading the newspaper with a cup of coffee on a quiet Saturday morning, or walking alone on a forest trail.

Where do you find your pause button?