Upon my return from a five month sabbatical, I was asked what resolutions I had made.
I have run North Sydney Yoga for 26 years, and a Mysore program for nearly as long. This requires me to get up at 4:30 am 5-6 days per week. During our time away, I for once, got enough sleep every night.
The importance of sleep can’t be underestimated, as anyone who suffers from insomnia can testify. Enough good quality sleep, simply helps you feel ‘normal’, and your true capabilities can be felt.
Your level of strength or mental presence aren’t overshadowed by exhaustion, and we feel emotionally more equipped to deal with every-day challenges. Of course, ’misbehaviour’ can’t be excused with tiredness, and we have to honestly face our misgivings .
Some fall into the trap of ‘I practice yoga, so I need much less sleep’, which might be true to a certain degree for some with specific constitutions. But we mustn’t rely on Yoga to make up for lost sleep! The ideal is of course, to sleep for as many hours as your body – with its unique constitution – requires, and to do your practice as well. This is not possible you might say, but it is and we all have a choice. It is our responsibility to our own well-being – and through that to others – to set healthy priorities, and to commit ourselves to a reasonable number of obligations only. To sometimes say ‘no’, and step back, allowing for a balance between activity and rest . As Graeme Northfield says “rest is highly underrated”.
Getting enough sleep is sometimes mistaken as an excuse to miss a yoga practice. We have to be discerning and set up a doable pattern, where both sleep and Yoga have their place. If you succeeded in that, imagine the glow from within you’ll obtain, the efficiency with which you will attend to your daily tasks, let alone the good mood you’ll experience, and the joy you will feel, regardless of what happens around you.
To accommodate all of that, we sometimes have to make tough decisions, but the outcome is so much more desirable than the continuous feeling of ‘lack’.
… and who doesn’t like sleep, rest, And Yoga!?
OM Shanti,
Angelika