yoga Monday...and Tuesday

I seem to be settling into my summer routine - both of workouts and just life in general. Of course, I'm just now settling into it when I'm about to disrupt it again next week with a trip (work + vacation - hooray!), from which I will return to the slightly less easy pace of August at school. I cherish June and July at school. Shorter work days. No URGENT! deadlines (there are some, but they can be worked with...at a pace that doesn't feel URGENT!). Lovely long lunch chats with colleagues. Getting errands done during the week so that the weekends are more free. Ahh...summertime.
And I've been able to reincorporate yoga into my schedule since I don't have to be at work until 9. Yoga Vida on Monday and bikram on Tuesday. I do love the combination. I love the lack of knowing just what Monday has in store for me. I know, I know...for this Type A person who wants to always know what's next, it's a bit odd that I cherish not knowing what is next when I lay out my mat on Monday mornings. It's as if I have no other choice but to surrender to Bekah and my body and whatever the day and class have in store for me. Some days I'm scared by that. Some days I'm excited by that. Some days it's a relief - no anticipation of what's coming up because I simply don't know. And some days it's nice to have bikram. Where I know the next pose. Where I can almost predict the script. Where I know what to gear up for. And what to be anxious about.
In some ways, my whole summer has been this sort of balance. New Mexico was a combination of very planned moments (just ask anyone about my trip binders) and totally unexpected alterations and/or additions to the schedule. Each day at work is a little like that, too, these days. A general plan that sometimes moves off course and sometimes flows just as I predicted. My summer project plan has been very similar. I'm getting things done (just chose new floors today to replace the ones damaged by water from my upstairs neighbors last fall...no comments on the delay in action there, please!), but perhaps not in quite the order I expected. Or at quite the pace that I would have wanted. And my upcoming trip to NYC is likely to be the same mix. A conference at the end that is mapped out to the minute. And the days leading up to it that are just now coming together, with some intention of some of them never coming together before I wake on that given morning. I pretty much did a triathlon like this a couple of weeks ago...what a change for me. Very little (well, zero) formal training for it - recently. I was truly testing out just how much of a base I had built up over the past few years. And relying on faith, experience, and attitude (and a little bit of stubbornness) to pull me through. (I had an absolute blast, by the way! This might be my new way to approach that sport...at least for a little while.)
And here is the lesson in all of this for me - aside from the part of the summer where I was responsible for my students in NM - this not knowing what's ahead has actually been stress-reducing for me. Maybe it's a little bit of "ignorance is bliss"? Maybe it's just the relief of not feeling like I have to know exactly what's ahead and make plans for it? So now the trick is to make this more of a summer deal...to apply this attitude a little more once school begins...to let it spill over into areas of my life other than my "to do" list or my yoga class. Nonetheless, I love that this lesson started on my yoga mat. A totally unexpected take-away. Now if only I could do crow or a headstand (without the wall)!