Well into my 2nd series of Yoga classes, I began keeping a Yoga journal.. I wouldn't write in it every time. But occasionally I was experiencing things and I wanted a place to keep everything. I wanted to be able to remember and look back on some of the things that were happening. Not only that, but I'm a HUGE believer in everything that happens having some kind of meaning or connection. So, I would try my best to search the meaning of what was happening too. This was also the peak of my whole questioning everything phase. Things that I wanted weren't happening for me. Instead they were happening for everyone else, and I couldn't figure out why I was left out of God's plan at the time.
I had a rather interesting Savasana one evening, and after talking with my instructor; she urged me once again to really start to write these things down.
So, I ventured to Target, bought a journal and began to document my journey.
Inside I would document everything I experienced, and then either at that time or later on, research meanings behind certain things.
I would see a lot of these things come back to me in later practices or in every day life. Some things would just correlate to what I was thinking or feeling at the time and some just went left unexplained.
It essentially became my Yoga diary!
I actually just noticed this too! The entry above was the FIRST entry. It was the sole reason on why I wanted to start a journal. Later on the following year, I attended a Peace Meditation/Vigil that ultimately was the beginning of my what I'll call "series of fortunate events" that lead me to decide on being a yoga teacher. During that meditation, one of the mantras was "Om Namah Shivaya". When I read that last night, I immediately got goosebumps!
I also found myself adding things I found inspiring or pieces of information I wanted to save to the back of my journal.
Mara Glatzel is SO inspiring! I suggest venturing over to her website and signing up for her weekly love notes!
When I was set on the teacher training program, I began saving every piece of anything I came across that inspired me. I wanted to be able to refer back to it upon planning my own Yoga classes. Thus my Yoga binder was born!
You'll notice it is QUITE thicker than my journal. I have not only pieces that I've saved on the history of yoga; but poems, quotes and writings that I'll dedicate to future Savasana's or class themes.
My Yoga notebook has taken the back burner to my binder. But, once I rediscovered it, I remembered why I loved having it so much. There are things that I wish I had written in there. Things that maybe I'll end up adding just to make it complete.
The beautiful thing about it is you can stop and begin again whenever you'd like. Maybe you're not feeling things in your practices. Maybe you need a break. Take it and come back to it when you're ready. It's always there when you want to record your next moment. It doesn't have to be an actual notebook. Start a word document or folder on your computer to journal your practices. Maybe you'll even be brave and start blogging about them.
Truly though. I wish I had taken my Yoga instructors advice sooner on starting it. So many times we go through the day to day not noticing the small things. It's nice to be able to have something that's my own to reflect upon.