Practicing Yoga is Like Making Sourdough Bread. (Bet you’ve not heard that one before!)
I’ve joined the scores of home bakers who are obsessed with making sourdough. There is the delight of working with a living organism, the joy of creation, the satisfaction of accomplishment, the ups and downs of the learning process. Sound familiar? Watching a YouTube video last week, one professional baker suggested that after making sourdough bread twice a week, for a year, one might begin to master the process. Yoga might take many years, but you get the idea.
I’ve been baking sourdough for a month, making mistakes each time. I’m taking notes and doing my best to refine the techniques, but there are things out of my control: the humidity and temperature any given day, the phone call that interrupts a necessary step at a certain time, the tech guy who needed to turn of the internet while I was using my laptop as a timer…
My yoga practice follows a similar trajectory. I practice most every day, getting deeper into a pose, then an injury sends me back to square one. It’s only a physical setback. I’ve still put in the time, learned from each practice, found solace, connection to my deepest self, to my breath.
Ultimately, both are a practice, both provide a variety of results. Even if your bread is not perfect, and if it is, it’s probably random, or beginner’s luck, it will still be better than most anything you can purchase. Like your yoga practice, you feel so good when it is done! Both are long-term learning opportunities. Both give us instant and long-term gratification.
I’ll sign off now, time for my yoga practice, while my first attempt at sourdough pumpernickel bread is rising in the kitchen…
